Internet CEOs refining their game; CIK plans productive gatherings

Face it. The majority of Internet companies flew too close to the sun. The chief executives and founders of e-biz companies in Colorado who weren’t burnt to a crisp are embarking on 2002 with optimism and a focus on sound business fundamentals.

The free ride is over, and they know it. They hope to be wiser and promise to covet caution while trying to get their arms around this Internet business. A Foosball table in the boardroom is no longer a priority. Learning from the mistakes of others is at a premium.

That’s where the Colorado Internet Keiretsu (CIK) comes in. For the first time in its 5-year history, the in-state network for Internet chief executives and founders will charge $195 in annual membership dues to beef up its agenda beyond beer bashes, ski days and go-cart races, which were promoted as networking opportunities.

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What a sobering thought – paying dues. But then, these are sobering times.

And what exactly is a keiretsu (ke-ret-su)? It’s a Japanese concept wherein a family of companies with related interests works toward a mutual success. In this case, dot-coms and Internet-related businesses are interested in surviving and flourishing. Sound plans, budgets and bottom lines will be in vogue for 2002.

The idea for the CIK belongs to Brad Feld, managing director of Mobius Venture Capital in Superior, formerly Softbank Venture Capital. The CIK is trying to evolve into more than a social club. For 2002, it is planning a series of special interest groups, round-table and panel discussions, mentor programs and peer advisory groups.

Les Squires, chief executive officer and founder of Louisville-based Word Jenny, whose two-person firm built and maintained an online community for Disney before the project’s money dried up, is on CIK’s executive board and is hard at work coming up with programs for special interest groups within CIK.

In January alone he has programs planned on business opportunities in digital photography and video, an executive round table on forming and managing a corporation, a panel on ways to seek venture capital and funding, and another on how to create sales through marketing and advertising.

When CIK was dues-free, it had about 500 members, mostly from Denver, Boulder and Broomfield. Since dues were introduced, CIK has signed up about 100 members, and the roster is growing every day, according to Jody Reale, who serves as CIK’s director, a part-time position of about 20 hours a week, and the group’s only paid staffer.

Funding for the group’s activities will come not only from membership dues, but sponsorships from industry leaders. Right now, Reale said, CIK has five Diamond Sponsors that give $5,000 a year and 14 Gold Sponsors that donate $2,000 a year. Among them are Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cooley Godward, Sun Microsytems and Mobius. These companies also will provide experts for the panels and round tables.

Squires said the days of competitors not sharing ideas needs to end. “I need all the competitors I can get,” he said. “Things are moving so fast, and we’re all in this together. If I share my three ideas with 20 other people who share their three ideas, then I’ve got 60 ideas.”

Scott Price, president of CIK’s board of directors and chief executive officer of CustomerCentrix, which offers distance learning for corporations, says the networking group is evolving into a more valuable tool. “This is a way for Internet entrepreneurs, at a peer level, to help each other,” he said. Price said CIK members could enhance their business fortunes by buying, selling and bartering services to each other as well as finding leads. “If I’m doing a deal and find out my new client has a need, and I’ve got a CIK buddy that can fulfill it, I’m telling that client about my buddy,” he said.

Price also believes the emphasis on adding educational programs to CIK’s calendar is taking networking to the next level.

But if by chance you were thinking about joining CIK for its social networking gatherings, don’t fear. They have not gone away. While tracking down CIK Board President Scott Price for this column, I finally got in touch with him by cell phone the Friday before Christmas. In the background I heard loud voices, laughter and the clinking of ice and glass.

“Good timing,” Price said. “I’m at a CIK event right now.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“A ski day,” Price replied.

Price was hosting the ski day, which started with a breakfast at his house, continued with a few runs on the slopes and was winding down, or possibly starting up, at a bar.

Sounds like the Keiretsu Kids aren’t done teetering on one foot.Doug Storum is managing editor of The Boulder County Business Report. Contact him at (303) 440-4950 or e-mail dstorum@bcbr.com. Editor Jerry W. Lewis’ column will return Jan. 11.