Corrections or additions?
Prepared for August 16, 2000 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All
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Life in the Fast Lane: Web Companies
Darryl Copeland, former CEO of a senior housing
community,
is developing a website called Next50.com, an Internet service
provider,
portal, and community for those aged 50 and above. “Our targeted
sweet spot is ages 55 to 75, and the vast majority of that population
is still not even online,” says Copeland. “We are trying to
create a resource and service provider that the customers will enjoy
and find easy to use.”
A biomedical engineer at Duke, Class of ’81, Copeland grew up in
Cherry
Hill and is the son of an engineer. He has a master’s in computer
science from New Jersey Institute of Technology, and an MBA from
Wharton.
He worked at RCA in Moorestown and on Wall Street for eight years
before taking a job as CFO of one of his clients, Brookdale Living
Communities, a publicly traded senior housing company. He just moved
from Chicago to Cranbury, where he and his wife, Karen, have two
school-aged
children.
The seed money for this five-person firm was raised through high net
worth individuals. “When I was at Brookdale I saw how computers
were becoming a big activity in the senior communities. But the major
portals were designed, developed, and geared to a much younger
crowd.”
His web portal will be easy to navigate, have big print, and will
have “things that you can see are easy to click on.” Links
all over the site provide suggestions for features and resources.
His portal offers two plans, $17.95 for unlimited access, and $6.95
for six hours plus an hourly charge, automatically deductible
from a credit card. He has incentives, such as a free month, for
anyone
who recruits a member. The formal launch is imminent and will involve
both an online and offline marketing campaign. Copeland has bought
a two-thirds page advertisement, with picture and text, in the
November
issue of Modern Maturity but can do no marketing on that magazine’s
website because of its nonprofit status.
He has negotiated a co-branded partnership with MyPoints.com, a
marketing
company that uses E-mail campaigns for people online. Called
“opt-in
E-mail” it exchanges reward points for shopping and for actions
within the E-mail site. “E-mail is the top activity that seniors
use online sites for,” he says, “and we expect to have a lot
of seniors E-mail each other about our site.
To align his website with senior housing communities, assisted living
firms, and retirement communities, he will donate Internet-enabled
brand-name computers with at least 667 megahertz and large 21-inch
monitors. He will install them in activity centers with his home page
as the start page and pay for the Internet service, from
California-based
Covad Integrated Services. Some of the communities want to install
video cameras for face-to-face phone conversations, but as Copeland
points out, “you need someone with software on the other end.”
The facilities’ activities directors will train the residents on how
to use the computer, but he will offer a 24 x 7 customer support
center
that can answer questions on connectivity and how to configure E-mail.
His tagline slogan: “next50.com — resource for your best
years.”
DWC Web Corp., 51 Everett Drive, Building A, Suite70, West Windsor 08550. Darryl Copeland, CEO. 609-275-6150; fax,Homepage: www.next50.com.Top Of PageHotclubs.comAt the other end of the age spectrum, a 29-year-oldfirefighter from Trenton and a 34-year-old policeman from Hamiltonhave pooled their savings— $12,000 at last count — to create a website for GenerationX-ers that is intended to be the Rough Guide to clubs in the country:Hotclubs.com. The site was launched on February 1 and it has a handfulof advertisers, including Netacer.com, several restaurants, a tanningsalon, and a body-piercing shop.”I took a pension loan out, and we have put $11,000 or $12,000into it already, but our hits are going up every week,” says BrianButler, co-founder. Describing himself as “the young single guywho has been partying all my life,” Butler picks the spots andDan Contento, the webmaster, programs them onto the site. Also onthe selection board are a lawyer, an accountant, and some medicalstudents, all with different tastes. “If they all agree on it,it sounds good to us,” says Contento.Other sources for picking the bars are some of Butler’s friends, suchas semi-pro hockey players in Charlotte. “We have the best Irishpubs in Boston and Baltimore,” says Butler. “We link to thewebsite, and if they don’t have a website we will build them a page.We give directions door to door, the age group, and what kind of musicthey play.”Check out Princeton’s listings and you’ll find quite a fewrestaurants,five bars, but no, zero, nightclubs. “None worth going to,proclaimsHotclubs.net. “Try Trenton or Central Jersey.”Noting that each listing contains a bare minimum of information —name, address, phone, and type of cuisine, Contento says that youngerpeople aren’t interested in reading a lot. “The other websitesconsidered our competition are listing everything, and we didn’t findthem very useful,” says Contento. “They just want to knowa good place to go out. We don’t list any place that several peoplehaven’t highly recommended and that Brian hasn’t personally checkedout himself. We will either take it off, if we get negative feedback,or we will put up a warning.”Words are few, but pictures you will find aplenty. Evidently somebodywent to spring break in Florida because a series of bikini-clad girlsis posted on the site. That’s not all Hotclubs does for promotions,however. Butler also distributes caps plus tee-shirts and halter tops— quality $12 ones with “www.hotclubs.net” across thechest — at some of the hotter venues, places like Trenton’sKatmandu.Contento went to Notre Dame and majored in psychology at Mercer CountyCollege. He is married, and his full-time job is as a police officer;he does the web work in his free time. “I bought my firstcomputerin 1996 and got bored with games,” he says, “so I taughtmyselfprogramming. The site was Brian’s idea, but he needed my technicalskills to make it happen.”Hotclubs.com is hosted in Minneapolis on a server run by the AcmeInformation Company and runs on T-1 and T-3 connections. “We areexpanding it almost daily,” says Contento, who has had to revampthe overloaded message board and add security features, such as aregistration requirement. The message board is now hooked up withLiveUniverse.com, which also includes a lottery system.”We went to all the bad places so you don’t have to,” is thesite’s tag line. The question is — do you trust these guys toknow a good place when they see it?— Barbara FoxHotClubs Network Inc., Netacer Corporation, 25Route 31 South Suite C, PMB 3025, Pennington 08534. Brian Butler.609-989-0065; fax, 609-882-1879. Home page: www.hotclubs.net.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
