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These articles by Peter J. Mladineo and Barbara Fox were published
in U.S. 1 Newspaper on June 10, 1998. All rights reserved.
Survival Guide I
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MDs versus RNs
Individual doctors and nurses work together harmoniously
every day, but when it comes to defining turf — what nurses can
do and what they can’t do — the trade groups that represent them
sometimes clash. Some nurse practitioners can now write some
prescriptions,
and they are asking the state legislature to broaden the rules to
include pain control medications.
Mary-Kate Heffern,
chairperson of Forum for Nurses in Advanced
Practice of the New Jersey State Nurses Association, and Kristine
Olson,
a nurse practitioner in the Capital Health System, will
explain the nurse’s point of view at the Princeton Chamber’s
legislative
lunch on Monday, June 15, at noon. For reservations for the $10 deli
lunch at the chamber offices at 216 Rockingham Way in Forrestal
Village,
call 609-520-1776.
Advanced practice nurses have advanced training to be nurse
practitioners
and clinical nurse specialists, among other specialties. They are
prepared, says Heffern, at the master’s level in pharmacology and
have regular continuing education courses. They want to be able to
prescribe "controlled" or addictive painkiller medications,
to include everything from codeine-laced cough syrup to morphine.
The ability to write pain prescriptions would be particularly useful
in home-based hospice care.
New Jersey is lagging behind in this effort; 36 states have already
extended this privilege to nurse practitioners. Two bills, now being
considered by the legislature, would remedy this: Senate bill S-174
and an Assembly bill A-1581.
"Nurses have historically administered controlled substances,
and we are taught to be careful. Prescribing them should not increase
the problems," says Andrea Aughenbaugh,
CEO of the New Jersey
State Nurses Association.
"Doctors are reluctant to extend this authority," says
Heffern.
"When we went for prescriptive authority initially, the docs
didn’t
want it. So we compromised on `accountable’ (controlled) drugs. But
now the pressure is on us from our members in hospice care who want
the ability to manage their clients honestly," says Heffern.
If nurses call in to get a doctor’s authorization on the weekend,
says Heffern, they may get someone who has never seen the patient.
The nurse who is the on-site case manager may be the better
decision-maker.
Heffern hastens to say that nurses are not trying to become
independent.
"It is not in the legislation nor is it in the nature of nursing.
Nurses are very willing to collaborate whenever the situation is
unstable
or not clear. Nurses are good collaborators."
Heffern, at age 70, is well known in Princeton because she
worked as a staff nurse and nurse practitioner at Princeton
University’s student health service for 27 years. She is still
working, now at Lawrenceville School’s infirmary. She has degrees from
University of North Carolina, University of Pennsylvania, and Rider.
Her husband, until retirement, was a political columnist for the
Asbury Park Press.
Never underestimate the energy of a nurse of whatever age:
"Florence Nightingale basically wasn’t a nurse, she was an
organizer," says Heffern. "She took over the British
army."
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NOLS: Technology Tax Shelters
You may think you are creative in taking deductions
off your income tax, but the newest state tax laws might give your
firm some unusual advantages. "This is a very original program.
I haven’t seen a thing like this in other states, and I practice in
all 50 states," says Frank Schaefer.
Schaefer is tax director of Coopers & Lybrand in New Jersey, and he
speaks at the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey’s panel "The
High Tech Bills: financing and growth via NOLs," on Thursday,
June 11, 8:30 a.m. at the Trenton Club at 497 West State Street.
Lee
Evans,
chief of office audits of the state taxation division, and
Caren Franzini
, executive director of the New Jersey Economic
Development Authority, are also on the panel. For $40 reservations
call 609-890-3185.
Young and poor technology firms will profit from the NOL (Net
Operating
Loss) law, but well-established profitable firms can also benefit,
and they don’t even have to be technology-based. The new law could
also give a boost to some energetic accountants and attorneys who
could broker these transactions.
The new law was among four that had bipartisan support in the senate
by senators Robert W. Singer
(Republican) and James E. McGreevey
(Democrat). They include the small New Jersey-based high-technology
business investment tax credit act, the corporation business tax
benefit
certificate transfer program, and the "carry forward net operating
loss deduction" or NOL.
Here’s how the NOL tax law works: An emerging company needs immediate
cash more than tax benefits at some future period. Under the new law,
which goes into effect next year, the young penniless firm can sell
those tax benefits to a larger, richer corporation with a high tax
bill. The richer firm can take immediate advantage of those benefits.
Since few of Princeton’s high-tech firms have achieved profit-making
status, most could benefit from selling the benefits. All the other
companies can take advantage of the law by buying the benefits.
"The basic rule is that the selling price has to be at least 75
percent of the amount of the surrendered tax benefit," says
Schaefer,
a CPA who went to Florida State, Class of ’76. For instance, a
technology
company with a $10 million net operating loss has a potential tax
benefit, in New Jersey, of $900,000. It can sell the NOL for at least
$675,000 in cash. The profitable corporation pays $675,000 and could
get up to a $900,000 reduction in its New Jersey tax bill.
Theoretically
it would save $225,000 on this transaction, but the actual savings
is lower because federal tax depends on how much state tax is paid.
"It will be interesting to see how the companies with the NOLs
hook up with the profitable firms," says Schaefer. "Smart
accountants and attorneys will be showing this to their more
profitable
clients."
"Many issues still have to be settled as to what constitutes a
technology company and the application and approval procedure,"
says Schaefer. A similar law applies to research and development
credits.
Does the state get gypped? Not really. The young firm’s other option
would be to hold its net operating loss tax credit for when it
did
make a profit. Most firms in New Jersey can carry over their state
NOLs for seven years, but Schaefer says technology firms can use them
even 15 years later. And anyway, the state is desperately trying to
foster the growth of its high tech firms.
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Technology Memberships
The Princeton Technology Alliance, gearing up, is
enrolling
new members at $150 per person or corporation. In contrast to
statewide
groups such as the New Jersey Technology Council, this nonprofit
organization
supports development and advancement of technology specifically in
the greater Princeton area. Championed by Cathryn Mitchell
of
Miller & Mitchell, the alliance is planning a technology day in early
fall.
On June 15 both the alliance and its host, the Miller & Mitchell law
office, will move from 264 Wall Street in Research Park to 863 State
Road, Princeton 08540, 609-921-3322; fax, 609-921-0459.
http://www.princetontechalliance.org.
The board members have spent this year in the planning phase but are
already getting a benefit from their encounters. "When really
smart people get together they do incredible things," says
Mitchell.
The board lineup includes: Gretchen Thiele
and Katherine
Buttolph
of Princeton University, Doron Gorshein
of Voxware,
Robert J. Raffo Jr.
of the Lepus Group, Albert Angrisani
of Princeton Management Co., Pasquale DeAngelis
CPA of DeAngelis
& Higgins, and John Churchill
of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic.
Also Denise Ratti
of Microsolutions Development Corp., Linda
Richman
of Ficomp Systems, Peter Rizza Jr.
of Princeton Center
for Education Services, Lauren Hebert
of Integrated Computer
Management, Barbara Harrington
of Brandesign, Mark M. Feffer
of Tramp Steamer Media, Anne Van Lent
of Sarnoff Corp., and
Andrew Peloso
of MarketSource Corporation.
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From the Mezzanine, Aggressive Investing
Mezzanine capital providers are amphibious, with one
foot safe in the water and one on land, so to speak. Their investments
are halfway between "senior" debt (a traditional bank note
based on cash flow or assets) and equity debt (stock owned by venture
capitalists in a private or public company).
Now, says Ron Kahn
of Mesirow Financial Inc., mezzanine financiers
have been getting more aggressive, and they are invading the venture
capitalists’ turf. He speaks on "David vs. Goliath: Why Mezzanine
Capital is Replacing Private Equity" on Tuesday, June 16, at 11:30
a.m. at the Venture Association of New Jersey in the Governor Morris
Hotel, Morristown. For $45 reservations call 973-631-5680.
Based in Chicago, Mesirow Financial Inc. is a 60-year-old diversified
financial services company involved in securities brokerage,
investment
banking, real estate, private equity, asset management, and insurance
services.
Mezzanine financing is the layer of capital sandwiched between senior
debt and equity, Kahn explains. It usually involves a note plus
warrants
to buy stock at a later date, and such deals are more flexible than
those done at a bank. Yet the supervision for these deals is more
flexible than with a venture capitalist’s investment. Unlike the
venture
capitalists, mezzanine financiers do not insist on having a seat on
the young company’s board, although they may link the release of funds
to the company’s achieving a particular target.
Last month’s VANJ speaker, Edward Rosen
, warned that New Jersey
venture capitalists are indeed playing it safe by ignoring the very
young firms and competing with mezzanine investors for deals with
the larger companies. "They are more interested in maximizing
returns than in helping New Jersey become a more fertile ground for
seed-stage entrepreneurs," said Rosen (U.S. 1, May 13).
Kahn looks at the flip side of this trend. He believes more and more
mezzanine providers — hungry for a higher return on their
investment
— are favoring the ownership side of the transaction rather than
the cash payback. Thus they are competing with the venture capitalists
for the same deals:
The Venture Association of New Jersey will let the venture capitalists
respond at its meeting on Tuesday, July 21, when venture capitalist
and investment banker Mark Damon speaks on "How to Buy a Company
Using Little of Your Own Money."
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Academics Talk Business
Get two workshops plus lunch at Mercer Chamber’s
"Open
for Business" half-day seminar at the College of New Jersey
student
center on Thursday, June 18, at 7:45 a.m. Registration costs $45 and
includes two workshops from a lineup offered by faculty members at
the state’s colleges. Call 609-393-4143.
Choose from these workshops by Mercer County College faculty members:
"An Effective Management Training Program, Jeanette Purdy;
"Funding Opportunities for Training Your Employees, Nunzio
Cernero,
both of MCCC; and "Your Web Site is Up, Now What?"
Ronnie Fielding
of Princeton Partners and MCCC. An introduction
to the Small Business Institute at Rider University is offered by
Radha Chaganti
and William Strahl
, also of Rider, teaches
"Organizational Partnerships: a Win-Win Business Strategy."
Other sessions include "Any Time, Any Place Learning," by
Jerry Ice
and "Convert Company Training Programs into College
Credits," by Patricia Sparks,
both of Thomas Edison State.
From College of New Jersey, learn about "Internships, All You
Wanted to Know," by George Cerf
; "Creating a Web Site,"
by David Letcher
; "International Sourcing: Making It There
and Selling Here," by Al Quinton
; "Using the Office
of Career Services for Recruiting," by Gwendolyn Hughes
;
"What Is Your Company Worth," by Thomas Patrick
; and
"Fraud from Within," by Randall LaSalle
. Also Joseph
Montemarano
, director for business liaison at Princeton University,
will discuss high tech transfer between academic institutions and
business.
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Summer Schools:
A Hot Line-Up
When Response Analysis Corporation surveyed business
executives in central New Jersey, three-fourths of them said that
employee training and development is one of their most pressing needs.
Jim Fouss
, president of Response Analysis, said the survey was
based on phone interviews with 125 companies of varying size, and
that 29 percent of those with 10 or more employees conduct some type
of employee training — about five hours per month.
Three out of ten employers plan to spend more on training this year
than they did last year. The most popular type of training is computer
training, and management training is the next choice. The survey found
that Mercer County Community College — which sponsored the survey
— is the "best known and most utilized" training
organization
in central New Jersey.
This summer, Mercer (http://www.mccc.edu)
is offering several
sessions of "Introduction to the World Wide Web" as well as
"Surfing the Web" and "Introduction to HTML." Also
available is an A+ Certification Program for specialist training.
Returning to MCCC in September will be the "WebMaster
Certificate"
program, a 91-hour course in website design and server administration.
Prices range from $49 up to $2,250 for the WebMaster Certificate
course.
Call the first week in July for fall dates and registration. For all
continuing education registration call 609-586-9446.
The Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with the
Electronic
Commerce Resource Center of the University of Scranton to host a
summer
workshop series at the chamber’s facilities, 1 Distribution Way,
Monmouth
Junction. The three-hour workshops include "Business On The
Internet,"
presented June 18 and July 16, and "Internet Marketing and
Business
Operations" on July 8 and August 5. Other topics include EDI
(electronic
data interchange) and legacy data management. Cost for non-members
is $15. For registration information, call 732-821-1700.
Along with several training courses, including one on JAVA
programming,
Middlesex County College’s Edison campus offers computer training
to go. On-line courses via the Internet are available through the
summer in "Introduction To The Internet," "Creating Web
Pages," "Creating Web Graphics With Paint Shop Pro," and
"Advanced Web Pages." $75 and up. Call 732-906-2556 for
information
and registration.
Specializing in bilingual computer training, Sistematica
Inc., 200 South Warren Street in Trenton, offers half-day, one day,
and two day courses throughout the summer. There are intensive
workshops
in specific software programs, like Windows 95, Word 97, and Pagemaker
6.0, along with "Prevention of Computer Related Health
Problems"
and "Business Research on the Internet." Prices range from
$99 to $199. Check out http://www.sistematica.com
, or call
609-392-2900.
For technical employees and computer users, ExecuTrain presents
computer
training courses in East Brunswick and Parsipanny through July.
Courses
offered cover operating systems, word processing, spreadsheets,
database
management, and desktop publishing, as well as Administering &
Supporting
MS FrontPage 97 for the Internet. ExecuTrain also presents more than
300 instructor-led, electronically delivered courses. Prices range
from $185 to $340. Call 973-539-2221, extension 131 for a catalog,
or visit http://www.executrain.com/newjersey.
The FCC recently allocated three 100 MHz bands of radio spectrum for
Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII). This
unprecedented
release of unlicensed spectrum provides new economic and technical
opportunities for wireless Internet connections. The Wireless
Information
Network Laboratory (WINLAB) of Rutgers University is holding Focus
98, a two-day U-NII seminar and forum, June 22 and 23 at the Ocean
Place Hilton Resort & Spa in Long Branch, $575. Call 732-445-0283
or access the conference website at
http://winwww.rutgers.edu/Focus98.
Learn about the latest in Adobe and Apple at the G2 Computers
"Master
the Media" technology update on Friday, June 12 at 9 a.m. at the
Hyatt. The classes, which meet also at noon, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.,
include
Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Adobe ImageReady 1.0, Adobe Premiere 5.0 & After
Effects, Apple Tools & Technologies Update, and Immersive Imaging
with QuickTime VR. These seminars are free. Call 215-321-6542 for
more information.
Through Monday, June 15, G2 is offering specials on its regular
computer
classes. For example, Adobe Photoshop 5.0 Upgrade costs $195, Adobe
Premiere 5.0 is $575.
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Distance Learning
Billed as a "dazzling weekend of creativity and
synergy where new ideas impacting the entire field of higher education
are forged," the National Institute on the Assessment of
Experiential
Learning’s annual conference will be held Saturday to Tuesday, June
20 to 23, at the Chauncey Conference Center on the grounds of
Educational
Testing Service. For conference registration at $1,200 including food
and lodging, call Debra A. Dagavarian
, director of the institute,
at 609-688-8082.
John Bear
, co-author of Bears’ Guide to Earning College Degrees
Nontraditionally, will speak at the opening dinner on Saturday, June
20, at 6 p.m. The conference will also feature sessions on electronic
conferencing, interactive technologies in use at Thomas Edison State
College, how to evaluate learning acquired outside the classroom,
and a hands-on workshop on evaluating prior learning portfolios.
One of the college’s recent "portfolio learning" success
stories,
to which it will no doubt refer, is a retired AT&T and Bell Atlantic
communications expert who is now doing radar and surveillance work
for the Federal Aviation Administration. Leonard Leps
, based
in Alexandria, Virginia, completed all 120 credits for his bachelor’s
degree through the portfolio assessment process. To accomplish this
unusual feat he reached back 30 years through a career that took him
to Turkey, Alaska, and Europe to prove that he had a
"college-level
understanding" of each subject.
Presenters include Morris Keeton
, founder of the international
Council for Adult and Experiential Learning; Harriet W. Cabell
of the University of Alabama; Barry G. Sheckley
of the University
of Connecticut; Alan Mandell
of Empire State College; and Urban
Whitaker
, formerly of San Francisco State University and the Learning
Center.
Offering 12 degrees in 120 areas of study, Thomas Edison State College
is a national leader in the assessment of adult learning acquired
through life experiences, and it pioneers in distance learning
technologies.
For information call 609-984-1150 or visit
.
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View from AltaVista
Overwhelming is frequently a word associated with
AltaVista,
the search engine that’s famous for churning out hits by the millions.
But for many who surf the Web this is a desirable trait. Albert
and Emily Glossbrenner,
the Yardley-based authors of cyberspace
how-tos, called AltaVista "the search engine of choice for most
professional searchers."
Now you can find out about AltaVista from the inside, when the New
Jersey Technology Council hosts Kathleen Greenler,
AltaVista’s
director of marketing, as the keynote speaker for its New Jersey
Software
Forum ’98 on Friday, June 12, at 7:30 a.m. at the Woodbridge Sheraton
in Iselin. The luncheon speaker is Jim Carlton
, author of "Apple
— The Inside Story of Intrigue, Ego & Business Blunders."
The program also includes several panels. Cost: $130. Call
609-452-1010.
Launched in December, 1995, and owned by Digital Equipment
Corporation,
the Littleton, Massachusetts-based AltaVista is also known for its
slightly-elongated address,
http://www.altavista.digital.com
.
(Omitting the Digital in the address gets some unrelated computer
firm, but Greenler insists there are no resentments.)
Updated every 24 hours by 3 million new Web pages, AltaVista has made
a major contribution to Web’s transformation from an academic message
board to the popular megamall that it is today. "When we launched
there were some search indexes out there had one million pages,"
says Greenler. "We had 60 million pages. At the time people
thought
the Web was a great idea but you just couldn’t find anything."
The users have since changed, she reports. "When we launched there
were a lot of people who were technically savvy — early adapters
or geeks, you might say. Now my mother uses the Internet."
Still, judging from the rate of the Web’s expansion, it would take
an army of AltaVistas to catalog the entire Web. Recall the NEC report
by Steve Lawrence
and Lee Giles
(U.S. 1, May 27) predicting
that only a third of the Web could be found through a single search
engine. Greenler makes no promises that the Web will ever be indexed
in its entirety. "The one thing that you have to remember that
the size of the Web is infinite," she says. "Currently
AltaVista
has 140 million pages. Our own research thinks that it’s 300 to 350
million pages."
But it’s still too early in the game to predict whether indexing the
whole Web is really that important of a venture. "The great thing
about the Internet is it’s all evolving," she says. "It’s
like the wild, wild west. Telephones first came into being 150 years
ago. And today, still, 50 percent of the world’s population doesn’t
use the phone. The Web only came into being five years ago."
At 36, Greenler is practically a senior citizen in the Web business.
With a background in video production and a degree from Boston College
(Class of 1984), she joined AltaVista when it launched in 1995 and
finds it a suitable workplace for the "Type T" personality
(extreme sports fanatics and bungee jumpers). "If you are an
adrenaline
junkie then the Internet is a great place to work," she says.
"You need to adapt to change as you live it. Your business plans
have to be evolving every week. You’re an old-timer if you’ve been
in this business for several years."
AltaVista gains revenue mainly through its banner advertising. The
basic charge for an AltaVista banner is $25 per thousand page views.
The price goes up as the search becomes more specific, up to $150
per thousand views.
By Thursday, June 11, AltaVista might be weathering its biggest
change yet. That’s the day when Digital’s shareholders will be
approving
a takeover by Compaq. "They understand the mass-market consumer
audience," she says. It will also be the first time that a major
search engine’s address changes. Stay tuned.
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Legal Techie Advice
Robert Frawley
, the Smith Stratton attorney, has
been named president of New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network. He speaks
at the 100 Jersey Avenue Technology Help Desk & Incubator, on
Thursday,
June 11, at noon. Call 732-545-3221.
Here are a few suggestions he offers technology entrepreneurs in need
of capital:
Structure your company correctly.
This is all about taxes. A sub-chapter C corporation pays a tax on any
profit on a corporate
level. A sub-chapter S corp does not pay tax on a corporate level
but pays a small state tax. A limited liability corporation (LLC)
pays no tax whatsoever on the entity level, but is less likely to
attract venture capital.
"Venture funds at least are not interested in taking a piece of
an LLC," says Frawley. "The LLC is taxed like a partnership.
If you’re going to be looking for VC funding, you’re probably better
off starting off as a sub-chapter C corporation. Venture funds are
going to want preferred shares."
Don’t give away too much stock to people without a permanent
connection to the company.
Paying consultants or employees in stock
may be seem attractive to cash-strapped entrepreneurs, says Frawley,
but it can create big problems down the line. "Quite often I’ve
seen situations where people who get stock essentially for nothing
are coming back a couple years down the road and demanding green mail
to be bought out. Have an agreement with these people that you can
buy the shares back at a nominal amount if they are no longer
affiliated
with the company."
Everyone thinks they are going to be successful and some of
them are, says Frawley, but if you try to save upfront cash by paying
consultants’ fees in stock, you put yourself at risk. The consultant
might come back to demand more money for the stock than the whole
company is worth. Says Frawley: "You have to protect yourself
from the downside."
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