BOSTON (01/28/2000) - NOTE TO EDITORS: This story includes information that was disclosed to the IDG News Service under the condition that it not be made available to the general public until Monday, Jan. 31. We are making this story available internally to the IDG editorial community for your convenience in planning the forthcoming issue of your print publication. If any other public news source -- print or online -- breaks the embargo, the embargo will be considered irrelevant.
Primix Solutions Inc. announced today (Jan. 31) that it is now offering "dot-com" companies Internet services, including Web design, marketing and consulting as the fledgling businesses take off.
The services program, called E-Catalyst, is aimed at venture-funded startups whose founders often don't know much about business processes and developing brand recognition, Primix executives said.
Dot-coms are electronic-commerce companies that set up shop on the Internet, often with little actual physical space or capital. However, such companies also can be offshoots of existing corporations that decide that an Internet presence is necessary for keeping a competitive edge.
Primix also is offering E-Catalyst customers access to a business incubator program that includes office space, furnishings and equipment, and help from business development, human resources, finance and information technology professionals. Watertown, Massachusetts-based Primix has space in its offices for about three dot-com startups to incubate at a time, the company said.
"Probably the thing that will kick them out the door is the launch of their business," said Michael Winton, who is heading the E-Catalyst program for Primix. Up to that point, though, some dot-coms need a particular amount of help because the founders might have a good idea for a business but no idea at all what it takes to run one.
"Oh, my God! A phone system costs how much?" Michael Troiano, Primix president, said as an example of the sorts of negative revelations that often come to the business newbies who set out to launch dot-coms.
Primix has forged a number of partnerships with various hardware and services vendors that will offer goods and services to E-Catalyst customers. Those partnerships can help open doors for startups because "there's an implicit seal of approval in both directions" between Primix and the other vendors, Troiano said.
E-Catalyst partners are Sun Microsystems Inc.; HarvardNet, which provides Web-hosting services; AHL Services Inc., which provides electronic-fulfillment services; TeleSales Inc., which offers call-center services; QuickTake, which carries out online market research, and Brand Equity, Greenberg Seronick O'Leary & Partners and Miller-Shandwick Technologies, which offer marketing consulting.
Primix, in Watertown, Massachusetts, can be reached at +1-617-923-6500 or at http://www.primix.com/.