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Struggle.com

Written by: James Chan

Article Overview: What happened to CollegeFriends.com.

Struggle.com

Ideas have a very short shelf life today. Most of us have been brought up to believe that persistence will be rewarded, and often it is. But it can be a big mistake to be too wedded to one clearly defined idea when circumstances are telling you to try something else.

Jeff Tannenbaum and Brett Cohen are in the midst of starting their third business in three years. The first, which they started as college roommates, was a service to wake up people like themselves, who had been working at their computers all night, in time to get to class. They were literally entangled in their venture. Cables sprouted across their sofa, around their desks and in front of the television. The thing was, though, that it worked. There were enough other reluctant risers on campus to give them a satisfactory cashflow. They were in business!

Then they decided to look for a way to create a larger business that would appeal to their cyberspace-seasoned peers around the nation and the world. Their idea was a ride-sharing bulletin board that would not only help college students find free or inexpensive transportation, but would also put people in touch with one another. One morning in the shower, Brett came up with what he thought was the perfect name: collegefriends.com. Thus they had a concept. They were confident of their technology. They thought their name was a winner.

Given what has happened since on the internet, you might assume that this is the story of a couple of boy billionaires. It~{!/~}s not, at least not yet. What they didn~{!/~}t have was the capital required to make the idea a reality. Nor did they have the good fortune to encounter any investors who subscribed to the theory that, on the business frontier of the internet, being first is far more important than knowing exactly when and how you are going to make a profit.

Brett and Jeff were both 21 years old and still undergraduates. To those considering funding them, they looked like kids, and not necessarily geniuses. Jeff recalls, ~{!0~}They would say, ~{!.~}Who are you? You~{!/~}re half my age, and you~{!/~}re trying to get me to invest in you?~{!/!1~} Jeff and Brett~{!/~}s biggest obstacles were men with graying hair~{!*~}people like me, in other words. The two partners were certain that these people didn~{!/~}t really have a clue about how things work in a wired world.

The pair~{!/~}s make-or-break-it moment came when they obtained an introduction to an investor whom they were told could provide the $500,000 to $750,000 that would be required to get collegefriends.com on the road. Day and night they prepared for the meeting. They honed their presentation. They made slides. They repeated the demo over and over again to make sure it worked. They took their suits to the cleaners. They ironed their shirts. They practiced being serious and businesslike. They impressed each other enormously.
When the day of the presentation came, the gray-haired investor looked attentive and interested, until, about midway through, he whispered something to a colleague who had come with him, and they both laughed loudly.

Jeff and Brett were devastated. They hadn~{!/~}t made a joke, or even said anything remotely clever. They didn~{!/~}t dare because they were trying to be so serious. But it was difficult to complete the presentation once their prospect had laughed. ~{!0~}At the end, he said what a good product he thought it was,~{!1~} Jeff recalls. But he didn~{!/~}t offer to invest any money. Instead, he said, the two should go to the Wharton School~{!/~}s small business development center for help in preparing a better business plan.

Jeff and Brett believed that the expert polishing Wharton might offer would add nothing to the merits of the business, and it would take time they knew they didn~{!/~}t have. On the internet, concepts wilt faster than arugula. In 1997, they aborted the project and, after they graduated from college, both took well-paying jobs.

Within a year, two other companies went on the internet with concepts similar to collegefriends.com, though neither is the new amazon.com. After a few months, Jeff, who was working for a telecommunications company, decided that he needed to be in business again, and he convinced Brett to join him. The two founded DreamFront, a concept involving interactive, internet-based entertainment, though they were reluctant to be specific. It is a more ambitious business than their previous one, and they are working night and day on it. The climate for capitalizing internet concepts has improved, and Jeff and Brett are out looking for some venturesome money.

They are older, but not much older, starting again, confident that they have a world-beating idea. And if that doesn~{!/~}t work, it seems inevitable that they will have another and another.

Both Jeff and Brett know that plenty of employers will pay highly for their skills, though they are determined to find a way to remain independent. Nevertheless, the condescension of the gray-haired capitalist who laughed still rankles. ~{!0~}I intend,~{!1~} Jeff says, ~{!0~}to be the person laughing all the way to the bank.~{!1~}

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Article Tags: big mistake, business frontier, cables, cashflow, circumstances, college roommates, college students, desks, geniuses, good fortune, inexpensive transportation, life today, midst, peers, persistence, risers, shelf life, sofa, tannenbaum, undergraduates



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