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Dot
communist? The Internet anti-millionaire . . .
Steven Homer's .com bubble can't burst because he hasn't created
one. With all of the hype surrounding lastminute.com and the like,
it's interesting to look at another way of setting up an e-commerce
business.
Award
winning journalist Steve Homer has been working on his Web sites
for just over a year now. By not focusing on venture capital funding
nor launching himself on NASDAQ, Steve has slowly built a real web
business in the same way as more traditional businesses are built
- with a lot of penny pinching and hard graft.
Beginning
at the end of 1998 with Gift-Net.com (now renamed TheGlobalGiftGuide.com),
Steve has expanded his initial gift giving concept into QAZ.com
(The Quick Access Zone) which utilises "the search engine in
your head". If you want to buy a car simply type car.QAZ.com
and you will be taken to a page full of reviewed, relevant Web sites.
So,
is Steve rich? Not yet, but he has created a real e-commerce 'opportunity'
by developing a viable, low-cost self supporting business that can
be developed organically. Financed almost exclusively from his own
earnings, the site is poised for further development from a secure
base.
"There seems to be this belief that Internet companies have
to be huge straight away. I am not convinced about this," says
Steve. "QAZ.com is at a very early stage. If you like we have
just opened the first restaurant in a chain of restaurants. We know
we have got some things right but we know we still have a hell of
a lot to do. The Internet is becoming quite a mature market in many
respects. What will count is not the flashiness of a site nor some
gee whiz numbers. What will count is underlying quality of content
and the quality of delivery. Neither of those are expensive to achieve
they just take clever, hard work."
Ends
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