USD Magazine, Summer 2000

On a pace to earn in the high six figures last year, he's one of those gonzo entrepreneurs who started his first business as a kid and had two or three different careers before age 30, making a good living at all of them. But like most of his entrepreneurial brethren, Silver always wanted to run his own show, to see if he could come up with the next Really Big Thing. So last year, still putting in 80 hours a week in a San Francisco banking firm, the 34-year-old Silver started commuting on weekends to San Diego, working on an online amateur talent community dubbed Upstage.com. After six months of double duty, Silver quit banking for good, gave up the big paycheck and moved to San Diego. The Upstage Web site launched in March, and the company is already creating an on– line stir with plans to give away more than a half million dollars in prizes to 14 amateur artists, musicians, models and actors. Strategy for building the buzz includes a European vacation for the prize winners, during which they will film a documentary of their exploits, talent contests in conjunction with corporate partners, an MTV-style "House ofTalent" in San Diego and a nationwide network of col– lege campus reps to promote the site. Like most e-commerce ventures, Upstage isn't projected to return a profit for several years. Typical of non-retail start-ups, the company's revenues right now come almost exclusively from advertising, through banner ads on its Web pages and partnerships with offline corporations interested in reaching the site's audience through promotions. The competition for ad dollars is rough, however, and most sites look to sell "value– added" goods and services, such as upgraded membership benefits, to increase revenues. In the meantime, they try to get the most mileage out of whatever venture capital they can raise. "We could market the site by blowing a million dollars on one television ad, a lot of dot-corns have tried that," says Silver. "But that's not the way to reach a college or high school audience. Trends in this generation are all about grassroots word of mouth, about what's cool with your friends. Traditional marketing is our."

Business School Launches E-Commerce Program Whenever they met with e-commerce professionals, business professors Gary Schneider and Rahul Singh kept hearing the same refrain: not enough qualified people. So, in the spirit of the fast-paced e-com– merce world, the two professors took the concept of a new master's degree in electronic commerce from concept to launch in less than sixmonths.

companies are done poorly because there is little communication between the tech people and upper management. Students will come out of this program knowing how to make business choices and how to carry them out from a technological standpoint." Applicants are not expected to have prior e-commerce experience or an advanced business degree, but must hold a bachelor's degree, have at least two years of business experience, and submit their scores on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). Courses will be offered at night for working professionals. Concurrent with the electronic commerce master's program launch, the School of Business Administration is planning a new Institute for Electronic Commerce, which will bring together pro– fessionals in the field for workshops and seminars and create internshipand in-class opportunities for

Set to debut this fall, the degree is designed for entrepreneurs, managers of Internet-based ventures and managers with established firms undertaking e-business initiatives. Schneider and Singh got input from e-commerce pros and students in putting together the 10-course progrom, which includes Web site design, computer networking, online ethics and law, and Internet marketing. Rounding out the busi– ness side are classes in finance, supply manage– ment, project management and acapstone course in which students can work on a business plan for a dot-com start-up, an outline for an e-business initia– tive in an existing firm, or a detailed exploration of some aspect of electronic commerce. "We spoke to the dot-com industry and they need management teams and don't have five years to groom them," says Schneider, adding that USD's will most likely be the first accredited e-commerce pro– gram in the region. "A lot of Web sites for very good

students and faculty to work on e-commerce projects with local businesses. For information, visit the Web site at ecommerce.acusd.edu or call (619) 260-4524.

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USO MAGAZINE