Date:         Thu, 30 Sep 1999 10:00:09 -0700
Reply-To:     Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Subject:      Where From?--ConsumerSearch seed funding; begins hiring editors,
              others
In-Reply-To:  <001d01bf0b0a$c4a09520$5b560718@pinol1.sfba.home.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I was on the list the first day it began on 4/2/94, and as is the usual
course, posted a lot for about two years and now post sparingly. This is a
disease that afflicts old timers in which they post less and less, even
though they know the answers to things, because they are horrified at the
amount of idle chat, and are nervous that their posts might be contributing
to the noise level.

With all the personal talk I thought I would mention some things. As of
about a year and a half ago I have moved from New York City to Washington
DC with my wife after she received a job offer to be Assistant Managing
Editor of the Washington Post for business and finance coverage. I have
retained my apartment in New York City where I am usually from Tuesday
through Friday and where I am launching an Internet startup to keep track
of expert evaluations of consumer products.

As of last night ConsumerSeach had received seed funding of $300,000 from
seven individiual investors with additional commitments from other
investors. We are raising a total of up to $1.25 million in this first
round and are actively soliciting investments exclusively from wealthy
individuals as that term is defined by the SEC (e.g., over, I think,
$200,000 in annual income or net worth of over $1 million.) via a Private
Placement Memorandum. We believe we need about $4 million to $7 million in
total, so the next investments would likely be institutional.

The purpose of the startup is to keep track of who has the best expert
competitive product evaluations for any given product area. Our project is
applied to all consumer purchase decisions, for such things as which
computer to buy, which vacume cleaner to buy, to which discount broker
offers the best combination of service and rates. We review the reviewers,
rank their work, and keep track of what they say.

If we had launched this project into the Vanagon world, we would keep track
of all the postings that advise vanagon list members about which antifreeze
to use and then keep this information current and updated. Right now, it
might take me hours of reading through vanagon list postings to determine
the answers to simple questions: what is the best awning to buy for a
Westy, what is the best u-joints for rebuilding syncro driveshafts, what
consensus is there about the best aftermarket source of a motor.

Since ConsumerSearch is launching into the mass market, instead of Vanagon
list postings, we track opinions of experts in the various places that
these exist anywhere, Golf Magazine, Consumer Reports, ZDNET, CNET, Usenet
postings, etc. etc. etc.

While we are raising funds we have recruited an expert team of Web
developers who are generally working for forms of equity. We are hoping to
have a beta site up by November and have begun hiring editors to produce
content for that site.

If any person reading this posting would like to participate as a paid
editorial writer, I would like to hear from you by email. Assignments are
going out now. Note that unfortunately we are not covering Vanagons and it
would be many years until we could, if ever. Let me hear from you if you
have a skill set to offer, and are interested in earning equity options at
this early stage.

My own van sits in my garage awaiting a clutch replacment. I am still of
the Vanagon List world, and so am diseased enough to believe I have to do
the job myself, as well as the many other things, like replace old fuel and
water hoses, rustproof, replace this and that, etc. But due to the extreme
demands of my professional life, it may be quite some time until I am
actually out of the garage and back on the road again.

One area that has received great attention from me is the poor strength of
the various skid plates under the van, and I have done some serious
thinking about deficiencies of the current design that make the van suffer
upon crashing down hard on piles of rocks. A few simple pieces of angle
iron seem to be all that is required to improve this condition, and my
fabrication activity in this area has occupied the few hours per month that
I have been able to devote to my syncro.

Some details of the ConsumerSearch project--though the software makes the
presentation poor--appear on a short three page summary at
www.consumerseach.com/cssummary.htm


_______________________________________________
Derek Drew                                            New York, NY
CEO, ConsumerSearch
drew@interport.net

212-580-6486
917-848-6425 (cell; this phone is a reliable way to reach me fast or to
leave messages)

Alternate numbers for the industrious phone caller that wants to try every
avenue: 202-966-7907 (Work), 212-580-4459 (Home), 202-966-0938 (Home)