Applications for Loans From Moscow & Malaysia?
Fresh Ingredients for EDA’s Labs
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Melinda Sherwood and Barbara Fox were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on May 19, 1999.
All rights reserved.
Digital Editing’s Prime Time: For Everyone Doing
Ad managers and corporate media departments can do just
about anything a big production house can do now that digital editing
equipment — such as Avid — has gotten better and cheaper.
“Some of the systems are so user friendly you can sit down and
start editing right away,” says James Boyd, a board member
for Moving Image Professionals of Central Jersey.
Moving Image Professionals will host a non-linear editing equipment
exposition on Wednesday, May 26, at 7:15 p.m. at the Princeton Forrestal
Village food court. The latest models of Avid Express, Media 100,
Fast 601 and Panasonic Post Box — all comparable in price —
will be discussed and demonstrated by representatives from each company.
Cost: $10. For information call 732-821-0831.
Ten years ago, Boyd says, non-linear editing systems cost between
$70,000 to $100,000. Today you can buy a complete turnkey system for
about $25,000 to $50,000. “You can buy the software for $8,000
to $10,000,” he says, “but you need a lot of hard-drive storage
space because video eats up a lot of gigabytes.”
“If your company is doing any kind of video for the Internet,”
Boyd adds, “this equipment is particularly relevant, since it
can be used with Photoshop and AfterAffects.”
Anyone who wants to keep up-to-speed on new media should get acquainted
with the digital system. “Since the CD-ROM,” Boyd says, “VHS
is going the way of audio tapes.”
— Melinda Sherwood
Top Of PagePiano Playing Money Man
That great song from “42nd Street,” “You’re
in the Money” will be the theme song for Steve Goodman,
a Philadelphia attorney who is also a piano player. Goodman’s jazz
riffs are the feature attraction for the New Jersey Entrepreneurial
Network (NJEN) lunch on Wednesday, June 2, at noon at the Forrestal.
Call 609-279-0010.
Instead of the usual round of self-introductions plus speaker, the
NJEN’s last meeting for the season will give everyone time to do what
they don’t usually have time to do — meet each other. And Goodman
will play, cabaret style, attempting to make himself heard over the
din.
After Wharton, Class of 1962, Goodman was editor in chief of the University
of Pennsylvania Law Review and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice
William J. Brennan Jr. He was a senior partner at Wolf Block, Schorr
& Solis-Cohen before joining the business and finance section in the
Philadelphia office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius.
The NJEN typically attracts entrepreneurs needing capital, professionals
(such as accountants and lawyers) seeking the business of new companies,
and venture capitalists with money to invest in new businesses. The
pianist is so well-liked that this meeting is expected to attract
more than the usual number of Philadelphia investors who are aware
of his musical prowess and would like to hear him play.
“Very few understand how well Steve plays and almost no one has
heard him,” says Fred Beste, a partner with the MidAtlantic
Venture Fund. “He says he flipped a coin as to whether to get
a law degree or go to the conservatory.” Now Goodman is indeed
a respected attorney with a practice focusing on emerging growth companies.
“Steve is the acknowledged legal guru in this community,”
says Beste. “In the Philadelphia community there are very many
good ones, and you could argue about second place, but nobody would
debate who is in first place. Everybody will tell you he’s the man.”
Goodman’s other secondary theme choices are “There’ll be Some
Changes Made,” appropriate for venture capitalists with ailing
portfolios, and the ditty from “Damn Yankee,” that starts
with the line “You Gotta’ Have Heart.” Both entrepreneurs
and venture capitalists do need plenty of heart. If the music stops,
you’ll know the money man has taken a break to do a deal.
Top Of PageApplications for Loans From Moscow & Malaysia?
As large numbers of people move to PC and Internet banking,
banks in Princeton could start getting business for all over the world
— loan applications from New Zealand and deposits from Malaysia.
So predicts Geoffrey Connor, the former state banking commissioner
who is now an attorney with Reed Smith Shaw & McClay in Forrestal
Village.
Connor has put together a morning workshop on electronic banking for
the New Jersey Bankers Association on Thursday, June 3, at 8:30 a.m.
at Forsgate. Anyone may register. Cost: $150. Call 609-924-5550, extension
520. William J. McNichol Jr. of the Reed Smith law firm will
discuss the intellectual property issues of PC and Internet banking.
Paul Tomasofsky, vice president of NYCE Corporation, will ponder
the marketing opportunities. He is in charge of the Remote BankServices
product line, which includes telephone and PC-based home banking and
bill payment services as well as remittance processing services. A
state regulator, William L. Horahan will raise some disturbing
issues regarding senior citizens and electronic banking. Two attorneys
— Timothy J. Byrne and Jerald Hurwitz — will discuss
compliance issues.
An alumnus of Williams College, Class of ’68, and Harvard Law School,
Connor was banking commissioner for four years, working for Governor
Jim Florio and briefly for Governor Whitman. In five years, Connor
predicts, electronic banking will be popular with 40 percent of the
market. “And the other 60 percent just won’t do it at all.”
If, as a consumer, you want this, “you ought to tell your bank
you want it.” But he has these concerns:
Customer identification. The digital signature itselfis secure — a long combination of perhaps 1,000 symbols and numbers– but what the consumer keys in is relatively short and easilystolen. As a former banking commissioner Connor is very concernedabout how a 15-year-old could get his parents’ access code and emptytheir bank account.More likely victims are the elderly. “The problem is the olderwidow who gives her daughter the electronic key,” says Connor.Right now the daughter can access her mother’s account on the ATMmachine, but as Connor points out, “How much you can take outof the ATM doesn’t compare with what you can transfer on the Internet.”Marketing opportunities. “When the new generationis buying a home or a car, you had better be on line if you are offeringloans and mortgages. Suddenly you are not just competing with the10 banks in your town.”Website personality. A bank website must attract customersyet look like a bank. “I guess you have to have a picture of aportico with columns,” says Connor. “You have to exude safetyand soundness, confidentiality and trustworthiness, but at the sametime there has to be some interest there.”Regulatory dilemmas. “The regulator has to think aboutthe world of disclosure, fair lending, truth in lending, and settlementprocedures. They are now based on hard copy; be sure all those sameconsumer protections are on the Internet.”Electronic profitability. “For the bankers, the questionis how can this be profitable,” says Connor. “Right now alot of these internet products are offered without being profitable.The way to do it profitably may be to offer not too many serviceson the Internet — money transfer, routine bill paying, and takingloan applications.”Theoretically, electronic banking is cheaper than staffing a branchwith people, says Connor, “but it will compress the interest ratemargin, because people will go for the best deal. And if you offerit electronically you have to offer it in person.”Consumer precautions. Connor says that his own precautionsincluding using only his “home” ATM machine, never an ATMmachine at a strange bank, to make a deposit. His advice: “I wouldmake hard copies of everything that is important because depositsin cyberspace can disappear.”Top Of PageInternet AwardsCompaq Computer is the platinum sponsor and PricewaterhouseCoopersand PaineWebber are the silver sponsors of Technology New Jersey’sFirst Annual Internet Innovator and Excellence Awards Gala to be heldon Thursday, June 17, at 6 p.m. at the Marriott at Newark Airport.The non-profit member association has designed a special sponsorshipprogram that will provide maximum exposure at the event and post-eventbenefits. Call Grace Polhemus, president, at 609-924-6117 orat polhemus@technologynj.org to make arrangements to be a1999 sponsor.Individual tickets for the black tie “Celebrated Red Envelope”ceremony may be reserved directly from the website https://www.technologynj.org.Cost: $95 for members or $125 for guests.Top Of PageFresh Ingredients for EDA’s LabsNeed space for your technology start-up? Need moneyfor your start-up? The New Jersey Economic Development Authority saysit has a fresh supply of both on Route 1 South in North Brunswick.The shell of its second new 40,000-foot building at the New JerseyTechnology Center (Tech II) is finished, and about half of it is stillvacant. The other half has been leased by a Warren-based firm, Celgene,which trades on Nasdaq as CELG. Celgene has taken 18,000 feet forthe R&D labs of its agrochemical subsidiary, Celgro, and CUH2A isdesigning the fitout.”Part of the state’s strategy for attracting and fostering hightechnology business development, the Technology Center is especiallysuitable for businesses in the biosciences, micro electronics, andinformation technology industries that need space at affordable leaserates,” says Caren Franzini, EDA director. For informationcall 609-292-0369 or E-mail red@njeda.com.Perhaps the most attractive perk for an NJEDA tenant is the hefty,$100 per square foot fit-out allowance that helps pay for design andconstruction of laboratory space. In the case of Celgene, that amountsto $1.8 million. Other opportunities to qualify for NJEDA monies arethrough bond financing, loan guarantees, and direct loans. For a fee,tenants can use labs and research equipment at Rutgers.Current tenants in the EDA-owned office park are Advanced Care Products,a research firm investigating over-the-counter hygiene products, DatamarkSoftware Inc. (providing electronic customer loyalty programs, theRutgers’ Cook College Agriculture Research Project (working in theregulatory clearance area), and Chubb Computer Services, the technologytraining firm. Any firm needing a stand-alone building need only ask– the park has plenty of room.The fresh supply of funding comes from Progress Bank, a Pennsylvania-basedbank that has joined the Technology Funding Program. With TFP, hightechnology businesses can borrow from $100,000 to $3 million, andthe EDA guarantees a portion of the loan at below market interestrates. The successful applicants for these monies are usually companiesthat have already been funded by venture capital or other privatefunding — and they have products under a contract or licensingagreement.”Lending to high tech companies is a specialty industry, and weto have a bank that is familiar with this is a real plus,” saysRose M. Smith, EDA spokesperson. Progress Bank’s specializedlending division focuses on early-stage, venture-backed companies.In just two years it has developed more than 60 relationships andhas more than $60 million in commitments.Also in the Technology Funding Program are six other banks, includingSummit (which funded Magnetic Specialties), Commerce Bank (which lentto Price Systems), and PNC Bank. These banks are also committing fundsto “low technology” businesses through the Statewide LoanPool for Business. Call 609-292-0187 or E-mail cld@njeda.comAnother fresh source of money is coming, indirectly, through a privatepension. In an unusual reversal, the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust(BIT) is partnering with the NJEDA to invest $22.2 million in developmentfunds for the Technology Center. In return, it will get an equityposition. The first AFL-CIO investment was $8.6 million for a constructionloan. The second investment, $13.6 million, will help to pay for thefit out costs. “This is the first equity investment we have madein a project being developed and managed by a public entity,”says Stephen Coyle, president of the AFL-CIO Building InvestmentTrust Corporation. “It has proven to be a highly successful prototype.”Top Of PageCyberspace ReportsConsider putting next year’s annual report up on theInternet as well as — or instead of — publishing a paper version.Educational Testing Service did that and went from a 32-page piecewith a 55,000 print run last year to 12 pages and only 35,000 copiesthis year. “We were looking to something distinctive and feltwe had set a pretty high standard in the past,” says EdwardTate, director of communications at ETS. “We did not save moneythis year because we needed to do a print companion piece, but infuture years we expect to reach more people for less money.”The report had national and international distribution to the educationcommunity, public policy decision makers, government leaders, andelected officials. Unlike some for-profit firms that gave shareholdersthe choice of a print or an Internet-based version, ETS made its owndecisions about whom to mail to this year. “No one is compellingus to distribute our annual report but we have a very wide constituency,”says Tate. To bring people to the website, ETS mailed postcards andletters and took out advertisements in education publications.The home page has a flashing click-through icon and the full addressis https://www.ets.org/etsar. To get the full effect one musthave — or download — Adobe Acrobat Reader, Authorware WebPlayer, and Quick Time 3.0.”Less than one half of 1 percent of all official annual reportsare produced primarily online,” says Hans Neubert of Manhattan-basedBelk Mignona, which designed both the web and print version of theETS report. Its other clients include Sony and Lands End. “Whileit is a growing trend for companies to post their annual reports onthe Internet, these documents are usually just copies of the printversion.” The ETS version — complete with video clips, audioclips, samples of tests, and more than 200 useful links — wonthe Big Apple award in the annual report category for the New Yorkchapter for the Public Relations Society of America.”This multimedia annual report gives us a chance to demonstrate,in ways that weren’t possible before, how ETS serves the educationalcommunity,” says Nancy Cole, ETS president. Six case studies,using video clips, show how ETS helps schools and colleges.Tate admits that no money was saved, at least for this year. “Weessentially produced it for the same budget as last year, but we believethe reach could be five times greater,” says Tate. “You aretalking about a print run of 50,000 versus a web-based report –where the number of people who can see it is limitless.”Top Of PageSales & Use TaxNational Business Institute (NBI) is offering a one-dayprogram “New Jersey Sales and Use Tax for Manufacturers” designedfor CPAs, attorneys, enrolled agents, controllers, tax managers, financialvice presidents, or other tax officers of profit and nonprofit corporationsdoing business in New Jersey. The seminar will provide manufacturersand their tax advisors with information necessary to minimize thesales and use tax burden by examining exemptions developed specificallyfor manufacturers.The class will be held Tuesday, June 22, at 8 a.m. at the HolidayInn on Route 1, and on Wednesday, June 23, at 8 a.m. at the HolidayInn at Cherry Hill. Cost: $189. Call 715-835-1405.Michael F. Batelli Jr., senior manager with the multistate taxservices group of the law firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP, and DavidJ. Shipley, an associate in the state and local tax group of thelaw firm of Dechert Price & Rhoads, will be the instructors.Topics include recent legislative developments; areas of sales anduse tax exposure for manufacturers; manufacturing exemptions; administration,compliance, and audits; and other tax issues such as bad debts, propertyheld for use outside the state, and county taxes. This program isdesigned to qualify for eight hours of continuing professional educationcredit for accountants.NBI also offers comprehensive manuals prepared by experienced professionalsin each area. They include “Advanced Real Estate Law in New Jersey,”a guide to procuring and insuring free and clear title, permittingprocess and environmental liabilities, ethical obligations, and liensand credit issues (cost, $59); and “Commercial Lending in NewJersey,” covering fundamentals of commercial loan documentation,dealing with default, bankruptcy, ethical issues, and lender liabilitypitfalls ($63).Also “Internet Strategies for the Paralegal in New Jersey”provides an introduction to the information super highway, strategicuse of the World Wide Web, using the Internet for substantive legalresearch, and how to become your firm’s vital link to cyberspace ($63).Call 715-835-7909.Top Of PageWomen and MoneyWomen-owned businesses are eligible for financial assistanceand business counseling through several programs offered by the SmallBusiness Administration (SBA). In 1998, the SBA New Jersey DistrictOffice approved 338 loans, totaling $52.3 million, to women-ownedbusinesses. “It’s an accomplishment that we’re very proud of andwould like to see repeated in 1999,” says Francisco A. Marrero,a New Jersey district director of the federal SBA.The Service Corps of Retired Executives (https://www.score.org)and the NJ Small Business Development Center (https://www.nj.com/njsbdc),both counseling arms of the SBA, can help women entrepreneurs puttogether a firm business plan.Once that plan is perfected, the SBA offers three financing options:the Guaranty Loan Program, the Small Business Pre-qualification Program,and the MicroLoan program. The Guaranty Loan program allows businessownersto borrow up to $750,000, while the Pre-qualification Program canprovide up to $250,000 in loans. MicroLoans average around $10,000and the maximum term allowed is six years.For more information, visit https://www.onlinewbc.org.or one of the SBA Business Information Centers, located at 2 GatewayCenter in Newark or 200 Broadway in Camden. Here you will find over200 business guides and several software packages that can help getyour business off the ground.Top Of PageCorporate AngelsThe First Union Regional Foundation helped tofund “Building Stronger Centers,” a week-long training programfor employees of daycare centers that took place earlier this month.The landmark program — touted as the only one of its kind –was organized by the New Jersey Community Loan Fund (NJCLF), the ChildCare Connection, and the Association for Children of New Jersey. Itincluded management training, technical assistance, and curriculumtraining.More than 50 centers applied for 15 available slots, said AnneLi of the NJCLF, and those chosen have plans to expand their programsto meet the demand for child care for working families. Jan Phillips,program director for Mt. Carmel Guild Day Care, was among the participants,and other funding came from the Schumann Fund for New Jersey and thestate department of human services and community affairs. Additionaltraining will be offered in July.Comcast, the leading provider of cable television and high speed Internetservices in New Jersey will adopt 25 classes at the Liberty ScienceCenter (LSC), allowing 750 students to visit LSC this year. LSC ishome to more than 250 hands-on exhibits about invention, health, andenvironmental themes, numerous science-related activities, and thenation’s largest IMAX Domed Theater. Call LSC at 201-200-1000.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
