1. IntheGlo
1.0 Executive Summary
IntheGlo is a start-up e-commerce company based in New York that is looking to build on the success of
the industry and integrate a creative new dimension to the way individuals and small businesses sell their
goods and services. IntheGlo will provide a virtual marketplace for buyers and sellers, but instead of
having sellers use traditional means of promoting their product like pictures and text, sellers will be
presenting a product or service through video. With a video presentation, sellers will be able to add more
appeal to their product or service, provide more crucial information about what they sell, and allow
buyers to receive a more personal engagement with the product or service.
In the past year, top e-commerce websites such as Amazon.com and eBay earned $10.7 billion and $5.9
billion respectively, showing the potential for start-up companies in the industry. Research shows that the
e-commerce industry has and is expected to continue to grow at an annual rate of 25% in the next
several years, and is a great time for investors and entrepreneurs to build on a successful business model.
Many highly profitable e-commerce companies like eBay and Amazon.com, have traditionally provided
a type of virtual marketplace for sellers and buyers to come together and do business. Sellers would
simply provide a picture and text description of the product on the website and interested buyers could
find what they need at a lower price. The website would earn a commission on the sales, and due to the
far reaching capability of the internet to reach massive markets, e-commerce websites have turned
investors, entrepreneurs, and webmasters into billionaires.
The presentation of video is a significantly easier means for the buyer to learn about his or her purchasing
interest. Instead of always searching for information through links and carefully reading and scanning text
to make sure they're getting something they want, buyers can simply listen and gauge the seller and see
the product or service in action. It's no coincidence that television advertisements are more expensive
than printed ones. Sure, television is a broader reaching marketing medium, but the capability for seeing
action is also a key to why television ads have been so successful over the last 30 years.
Successful websites and web-based businesses that generate high amounts of traffic and revenue
usually have the following traits in common:
Users are given an opportunity to market themselves or their business
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The site is easy to use and lets users develop their creativity with their own space
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The site is well designed and visually enticing; has the ability to hold a visitor's attention and draw them
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to learn more
The site provides entertainment value to visitors
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Users can find a great medium for connecting with others
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Not only will Intheglo.com be an e-commerce website, it will also provide users with a great networking
tool, promote a community that is fun to be in, and provide a supportive environment through site
services. Though Intheglo.com is primarily a promotional tool, it is accessible to everybody. The same way
YouTube, or Facebook allows many users to have a lot of fun with their promotional profile, Intheglo.com is
also looking to reach the same type of capability.
1.1 Objectives
Short-term Goals:
Launch the site with 100 members prepared to upload
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Attract traffic and unique visitors
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Receive national press and write-ups in major publications, trade magazines, blogs; promote the site
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on major talk shows
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2. IntheGlo
Long-term Goals:
Change the way the world shops online
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Become a mainstream cultural icon and the premier destination for online shopping as well as be the
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ideal resource for anyone who wants to sell anything online
Through online transactions and advertisement sales, generate enough revenue to pay back investors
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within 18 months
Obtain office space and grow staff including in-house programmers, web developers and graphic
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designers, and an in-house ad sales team
Establish Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Sponsorship deal with Flip Video Camera
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Have an international presence
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Make online video selling easy and simple
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Break the current threshold of communication between sellers and buyers by enabling buyers to
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virtually meet their seller or service provider
1.2 Mission
Our mission is to introduce a simple and easy way for anyone, anywhere, to buy and sell products and
services through online video. With video capabilities, sellers have an advertising medium that
allows them to break through the limits of text and graphics, and allow customers to interact in a greater
capacity-- enabling sellers and buyers to establish a more personal connection. By doing so,
Intheglo.com is really expanding the way the marketing of goods and services is done, opening
opportunities and possibilities for many businesses and individuals.
1.3 Keys to Success
Intheglo.com will be successful by providing users with an e-commerce website that attracts many people
to use its services. From small business owners to casual users, it's important that a smooth flow of traffic is
able to move through the website, enabling buyers and sellers to have a productive and uninterrupted
experience. The keys to this success include:
Keeping procedures simple and accessible, enabling many people to access and use the site
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Maintaining a structure that allows sellers to be creative with products and services offered
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Engaging involvement excitement through the website presentation
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Operating through an on-demand model generated by users to save stock costs and related
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complications
2.0 Company Summary
Intheglo.com is an e-commerce website with its headquarters based in New York City. Users can visit the
website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
2.1 Company Ownership
IntheGlo, Inc. is a New York corporation with sub-chapter status filed in New York County. The company is
currently 100% owned by Lindsey Port.
3.0 Services
Intheglo is an e-commerce website that offers casual sellers the ability to showcase their product or
service through a creative, short video format. With the popularity of eBay over the years attracting users
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3. IntheGlo
to use e-commerce to sell everything from books to auto-body parts, and the popularity of YouTube
drawing many viewers to create and watch user-made video, Intheglo.com is looking to bring established
channels of success together and bring e-commerce to another level.
Intheglo is designed to be simple to use for everyone. The service procedure is as follows:
1. Users create a profile that works as a launch point for all activity whether buying or selling; as well as
being recognized as a member of the Intheglo community.
2. Sellers upload a video for each item or service they have to sell; a listing fee is charged for each item,
or if selling a service, a video listing fee is charged based on the length of the video. (See section 5.3.1
for a more detailed breakdown of rates and conditions)
3. Intheglo collects a small commission on product sales
4. Users have the option of continuing the service on their own terms when items are sold out or if the
video time frame (for services) has expired
Intheglo is not only a place of e-commerce, it's also a place for people to network and meet other
people. Site members will be able to access a community that allows them to use valuable site resources
and broaden their presence as a member. A specific community section on the website will enable
members to:
Purchase selling kits
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Watch instructional videos
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Read blogs and FAQs
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Connect within discussion forums
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Write feedback, report problems
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Make requests for video shoots (See section 5.3.1 for details)
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4.0 Market Analysis Summary
With the internet revolutionizing business strategies in the past decade, more and more individuals and
businesses are looking to take advantage of our most far reaching communication tool to maximize a
target market. Intheglo.com is a service that, like eBay and YouTube, is something anyone can use and
benefit from. Such websites are popular and successful because they give business and publicity
opportunities to many individuals and groups who would not have had them before.
Statistics that present the potential and market for e-commerce businesses through eBay's success:
1.3 million people in the world earn a type of primary or secondary income on eBay, and the number
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is constantly growing.
With 212 million members worldwide, eBay is the model of success for an e-commerce website, and
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shows the potential for other e-commerce websites.
95% of eBay sellers are individuals or small businesses.
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(Source: Newsweek, TheBidFloor.com)
4.1 Market Segmentation
Our target market will be individual users (sellers) and small businesses. We project about 100,000,000 e-
commerce sellers that would be interested in our service, considering the number of internet users and the
number of eBay sellers. It is estimated that the internet had over 361 million worldwide users in 2000, and
more than 65 million registered ebay sellers as of 2003. The number of small businesses (with less than 10
employees) is an estimate based on the 2002 U.S. Economic Census.
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4. IntheGlo
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, InternetWorldStats.com)
Table: Market Analysis
Market Analysis
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Potential Customers CAGR
Individual Users 100,000,000 107,000,000 114,490,000 122,504,300 131,079,601 7.00%
Small Businesses 2,100,000 2,184,000 2,271,360 2,362,214 2,456,703 4.00%
Total 102,100,000 109,184,000 116,761,360 124,866,514 133,536,304 6.94%
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
With 95% of eBay sellers being individuals and small businesses, the segmentation based on U.S. Census
data yields a fairly good niche market to service. Of the total 102 million collection of individuals and
small businesses, Intheglo.com is really looking to add less than 30,000 members to reach its sales targets.
4.3 Service Business Analysis
E-commerce websites are classified as such when a merchant has a website where orders for products
can be taken automatically without human intervention. The customer is required to pay for the item and
then the merchant delivers the item to the consumer through logistics companies such as the US Postal
Service, UPS or Federal Express when products are involved. Depending on who the customer is, there are
three different models of e-commerce.
1. Business to Consumer- The most basic model. Here the customer is the consumer of the product and
the seller is usually a retailer or some sort of independent seller. Retailers accounts for about 2.7% of
the industry revenue ($107 billion).
2. Business to Business- More and more manufacturers and wholesalers are using e-commerce to be able
to reach larger and more distant markets. In business transactions, billing, invoicing, and other
professional services come into play in addition to products. Wholesale and Manufacturers account
for close to 52% of the industry revenue. In 2006, Manufacturers led all industry sectors with e-
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5. IntheGlo
commerce accounting for 31.2 percent ($1,568 billion) of the total revenue, while Merchant
Wholesalers, including Manufacturing Sales Branches and Offices (MSBOs), ranked second, with e-
commerce accounting for 20.6 percent ($1,148 billion) of total sales.
3. Online Marketplace- This model is the one eBay and Intheglo.com would fall under. Here, a website
acts as a virtual location for buyers and sellers of all types to conduct business. The company that
owns the quot;marketplacequot; takes a commission from the business transactions that take place.
With the type of industry revenue numbers that are being put forth, there is no question that the trend for
businesses to incorporate e-commerce into their operations is always growing; especially internationally.
Not only does e-commerce have the capability to reach a greater market, the substantial revenue figures
yielded from the industry is also due to the efficiency of cutting out middlemen and commissions on sales.
The top selling e-commerce businesses are as follows:
1. Amazon.com ($10.7 billion)
2. Google ($10.6 billion)
3. Liberty media ($8.9 billion)
4. IAC Interactive Corp. ($6.6 billion)
5. Yahoo ($6.4 billion)
6. eBay ($5.9 billion)
7. Sabre Holdings ($2.8 billion)
8. Expedia ($2.2 billion)
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Researchwikis.com)
4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns
Industry competition can be difficult to overcome especially with e-commerce being highly concentrated
among the large companies. New companies will need to provide a distinct differentiation strategy to
give themselves a better chance. The majority of e-commerce businesses are involved with selling
products at a more affordable price in comparison to local retailers.
Intheglo.com's business model will be similar to that of eBay where users can sell pretty much whatever
they want on the website and a commission or listing fee will be charged accordingly. Of course,
Intheglo.com will be differentiating itself through video services allowing customers to engage the sold
good or service through interactive media.
Currently, there is one major established competitor that provides a virtual marketplace that allows
merchants to promote their product or service through video, and it's ShopFlick.com. ShopFlick.com is a
Los Angeles based start-up that operates on a similar cost and sales model as Intheglo.com.
Shopflick.com was founded in August, 2008 by ex-Fox TV Studios and Interactive Executives.
According to management research:
ShopFlick.com charges a 12.5% commission fee on every product sold.
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Monthly fees will kick in either Oct or Nov 2009 and will be either $9.95/mo (or $19.95/mo if sellers have
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over 5 listings)
High quality video shoots are offered for $250
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ShopFlick.com does not hold inventory
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6. IntheGlo
5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary
Intheglo.com is a pioneer in being one of the first e-commerce sites that is changing the industry
by allowing sellers to market themselves through a video presentation; letting them be more creative in
attracting buyers to their product or service. When something is made easy and accessible for everyone,
users can have the freedom of presenting what they have to offer in their own unique style.
The presentation of our website will be the basis of our implementation. We want to provide users with a
virtual marketplace that reinforces the power of user created media. Intheglo.com should convey to its
users:
1. Making a promotional video is fun and exciting
2. The site is easy to use and technical ability will not stand in the way of creativity
3. Users can be free in their presentation; they're able to use creative means of presentation
4. Users will be a part of a great, supportive community that is filled with many networking opportunities
5. The website is on track to be a large influence with its presence like YouTube or eBay
5.1 Marketing Strategy
INTHEGLO will look to establish itself as a household name that is synonymous for selling online. Marketing
efforts and clients will begin in the Northeast United States, but INTHEGLO is aiming to be a global
phenomenon where buyers and sellers from across the world can connect to exchange products and
services.
INTHEGLO’s media campaign will begin by launching coverage in all major media outlets.
1. Google Adwords
2. Facebook. INTHGLO will have its own page and group where users can invite friends to join the site.
INTHEGLO admin will be able to promote the site through their friend lists and by the successful model
of social networking. There will also be paid advertising on Facebook that will list along the banners of
the page.
3. MySpace. With the creation of a MySpace page, INTHEGLO will be able to reach a wider audience
and tap into an audience that is already online and looking to sell or promote products and services.
4. Online Media. INTHEGLO will be getting mentions and whispers on websites such as FashionWeekDaily,
GeekSugar, WWD, MyitThings.com., Stumbledupon, Refinery29.com, TechCrunch.com and other
relevant technology and shopping blogs before beta is even launched. Coverage will continue and
grow after the site is officially launched.
5. Radio and Television. Lindsey Port and Andrea DeSimone will promote the site on talk shows such as
“Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Oprah,” “Regis & Kelly,” “The View” and also on radio
shows like z100's morning show that reaches listeners in the tri-state area as well as South Florida and
Pennsylvania.
6. Sponsored Events. INTHEGLO will use its name and logo to team up with venues and products to
sponsor events in the New York City area.
7. Street Team. INTHGLO will employee commission based interns whose sole responsibility will be to hit
the streets and promote the company. Interns will be supplied with promotional materials and will paid
a commission based on the number of clients they solicit to join the site and pay for listings.
Incentives
For New Members: INTHEGLO will be dispensing free first-time listings during our beta phase.
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INTHEGLO’s street team will use promotional codes to encourage sellers to get the first listings on the
site. INTHEGLO will create a rush to sign-up and the first 500 listings will be free.
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7. IntheGlo
For Existing Members: Like other member-only sites such as Gilt Groupe and Haute Look existing
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members will be encouraged to invite friends to sign-up and sell with INTHEGLO. Existing members will
get credit for free listings when their friends post ads.
Partnerships: INTHEGLO will strategically partner with products and companies for mutual beneficial
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purposes. INTHEGLO will target Flip Video, an easy to use pocket video camera, to become an official
sponsor and be sold through our unique selling kit. Other partnerships will include credit card
companies like American Express, video equipment products and television and radio stations.
Advertisements: Other than Google, Facebook and Myspace ads, INTHEGLO will strategically place
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ads on sites and in publications that our target audience frequents.
5.2 Sales Strategy
Users of Intheglo.com will be able to sell both products and services. From consumer products such as
TanTowels, to unique antiques or designs from small emerging artists and designers, users will have the
freedom to pursue their creativity in their business and personal endeavors. Revenue will be generated
through a variety of channels:
1. Listing Fees
2. Add-on Fees
3. Sales Fees
4. Advertising Sales Revenue
Intheglo's four different channels of revenue are derived from several different procedures. Depending on
whether sellers are promoting products or services, different forms of payments are made to the website
to maintain a seller's virtual quot;shopquot;.
Product Selling: Sellers upload a video for each item they have to sell. A listing fee of $0.99 per video
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is charged to the sellers account and must be paid regardless of if the item sells. Add-ons are
available for additional fees. Every additional10 seconds is $1 with a cap of 2 minutes of video time.
This helps us manage bandwidth costs and keeps videos short and sweet. When uploading a video,
the seller completes a form providing a short item description called quot;Item Statisticsquot; and indicates the
inventory for that specific item. If the inventory is only 1 piece (geared towards people selling old
things, antiques, collectibles etc.), the video or listing automatically becomes inactive upon
completion of the sale and sits in the sellers account for 60 days and the seller can reactivate it upon
getting more inventory or delete the video (it automatically deletes after 60 days). If the inventory is
more than 25 units, once it drops to a 10 units stock, an email is automatically generated and sent to
the seller advising them to restock their shelf for their items. Each time an item's inventory is restocked,
another listing fee is charged.
Services Selling: Intheglo.com is a platform for individuals to promote their services through video. This
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functions the same way as product sales except there are no sales transactions. In this case, the seller
uploads a video of him or herself promoting themselves or their service in the video. The listing fee for
uploading service videos is higher than product videos and structured differently. The listing fee per
video is determined by length of airtime. The seller can choose to have their video up for 1 week, 1
month, or 3 months and they can also choose how long they want their clip to be. The listing fee is flat
for each period of time: 1 week= $5.99, 2 weeks= $9.99, 1 month= $19.99. The listing fee includes 30
seconds and like product listing, every additional 10 seconds is $1 with a 2 minute cap in video length
time.
6.0 Management Summary
Intheglo.com is in the process of putting together a full management team, but management will initially
include:
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8. IntheGlo
Lindsey Port – Founder
Lindsey Port, founder and creator of IntheGlo, has a background which focuses on wholesale sales and
marketing in the luxury goods sector. Her first major stint was at Peter Som Inc overseeing all sales-related
activities for the brand both domestically and internationally. After nearly quadrupling the sales volume at
Peter Som in just two years and increasing the worldwide distribution from twenty-four accounts
domestically to 92 accounts in 24 countries, Lindsey accepted the role of Sales Manager for North and
South America at LANVIN- the oldest French fashion house at just the tender age of 24 years old. Lindsey
managed over $30mm in sales across all categories: ready-to-wear, handbags, footwear and jewelry.
Lindsey Port graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Retailing and
Consumer Sciences and a minor in Business Administration.
Andrea – Founder
As an aspiring writer, Andrea DeSimone graduated New York University in 2006 with a major in journalism
and creative writing. Immediately upon graduation, Andrea continued her four year internship as a full-
time employee at the world renowned publication Teen People. Andrea became an integral part of the
editorial team writing and editing major investigative features, styling photo shoots, casting models and
organizing large scale events for the magazine. When Teen People folded in July of 2006, Andrea was
immediately hired at the parent publication for online work where she has remained since. Learning the
ins and outs of web building, publishing and writing, Andrea has established a web presence and
invaluable knowledge to drive traffic to a domain. Other than working editorial, Andrea has a
background in sales. To put herself through college Andrea worked long retail hours at French
Connection quickly becoming among the top three sales associates in the country. In her spare time,
Andrea continues to work on her first novel and contributes to a variety of online publications. IntheGlo
came to Andrea for her expertise in the written word. Andrea will be overseeing all of IntheGlo's written
content including web and press materials. Andrea will also be the creative force behind unique
marketing plans and special web pushes.
Daniel Doman – Senior Technology Consultant
Daniel Doman brings twenty years of experience in Technology and Management experience with him.
He started as a systems programmer at Information Builders, where he became their Director of
Programming and helped to develop new versions of their flagship product through new software and
hardware platforms. Information Builders remains one of the premier OLAP, EAI and ETL products today.
After leaving DoubleClick, Dan went to Quixi as CTO and as a founding member. In this role, he defined
the architecture of the technology platform on which the business would be based: formulating budgets,
staffing plans, technology and business processes; assembling teams to do application development,
building out the infrastructure for ongoing technology operations and bringing in staff as needed. As one
of the Senior Management team, he was actively involved in the formulation of business strategy
formulation, product planning, and operations management. As part of the radical changes that
occurred during the business environment in 2000, Dan led the effort to reshape Quixi’s products and
model to re-focus the company and helped to modify its corporate model in pursuit of more promising
markets and new financial opportunities.
In 2001, Dan moved over to Mediaport as CTO and founder, where he outlined the technology platform,
assembled a team of architects, and helped to define Mediaport’s business model. He was responsible for
developing the overall business and financial plan as Mediaport’s investors evolved their own vision.
During that time, Dan was also responsible for actively marketing Mediaport’s ASP services to the
advertising industry; his effort to define standards and processes would subsequently be embraced by the
advertising industry. The disaster of 9/11 seriously affected the advertising industry sponsors withdrew
funding in the face of their own declining revenues.
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9. IntheGlo
Dan has been consulting for a number of companies at various levels. He is on retainer with a number of
companies to provide technology oversight and guidance as an “Outsourced CTO”. He has also
performed technology audits and due diligence reviews for investment companies, helped develop
business plans, architectural roadmaps and strategies on a contract basis.
In 2004 Dan joined a rapidly growing Internet contextual advertising company as their CTO. This company
is among the top 10 trafficked sites in the world according to Alexa. He worked on their next generation
application and operational infrastructure. He developed a highly scalable, distributed and high
performance system for ad delivery, services and data mining using OpenSource technologies. He
established release and source control processes. He built up teams of developers, system administrators,
QA analysts.
He closed down the old data centers and built out two new sites with redundant infrastructure that can
and has handled as much as 1.8gb of bandwidth with millions of connections per minute. He revised all of
the databases and established data access standards. He designed and documented a next generation
ad server design for behavioral targeting and yield management, and established teams and
methodologies needed to develop and implement all of the subcomponents. Dan resigned from the
Direct-Revenue on August 19, 2005 and is no longer affiliated with the company.
Liberty Travel brought Dan in as a consultant to review enterprise project plans and architecture after
repeated project failures and prepare analysis of all aspects of Information Technology – legacy, design,
staffing and risk. Based on the analysis, substantial changes were recommended for the next generation
architecture, overall design, strategy and all aspects of the software architecture, organization and
infrastructure. Dan was asked to stay on to put these changes into effect as consulting CTO. After bringing
in seasoned technical management and setting a number of projects into play, Dan finished his work at
Liberty Travel and continued to work with a new Client - Accoona. In July 2006, Accoona asked Dan to
join them as their Chief Operating Officer.
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson – Board Advisor
Alexandra is the Founder and Chief Merchandising Officer of Gilt Groupe, an online luxury goods sample
sale which has achieved over $25mm since launching in November 2007.
Alexandra has over a decade of international experience in the luxury goods and retail sectors. Most
recently she oversaw retail operations at Bulgari, managing 15 North American stores. Prior to Bulgari,
Alexandra managed Leather Goods Sales Planning for Louis Vuitton North America. She started her retail
career as a consultant for retail guru Marvin Traub at Financo Inc. Earlier in her career, Alexandra worked
for three years in Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch in London, England. Alexandra speaks five
languages. She holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Harvard University.
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