Black Inventor Emmit McHenry Invents the .com (dot com)-gctid49491

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Where are they now?

                                                                                                                An eye on the future                  

                                                                                            Emmit McHenry  sold his tech company for a song and then watched it become a major  player. But he refuses to dwell on missed opportunities

                                                                                                   Washington Business Journal                                                                         by Martin Kady II, Staff Reporter                                            

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/08/12/story8.html?page=all

                         Date: Monday, August 12, 2002, 12:00am EDT                      

Martin Kady IIStaff Reporter      
                    Weary from a long road trip, Emmit McHenry strolls into the office singing.  
   "I'm baaaack in the saddle, again," the old Gene Autry lyrics are  rolling off his tongue before he even says hello, before he dispenses  with any of the standard greetings and small talk.  
   McHenry is a jovial, barrel-chested guy with a Mr. Clean dome who shakes  your hand with a vigor that suggests he's comfortable in his skin. His  singing ain't bad either.  
   He's comfortable because he's at the apex of a long engineering and  technology career, a life in which he became an Internet pioneer after  overcoming the odds that faced a young black man growing up in the south  in the 1950s. McHenry is CEO of Chantilly-based NetCom Solutions (http://www.netcomsol.com),  which did about $76 million in revenue last year. He's got honorary  doctorates and sits on many business and professional boards.  
   Still, if certain things had gone his way, McHenry could have been a  billionaire. But he doesn't talk about it like that. That stuff's in the  past. That deal was years ago. "I'm future-wired, not past-wired," he  says. "To even do this interview is a regression for me."  
   He'd rather talk about 2002, or better, 2005, or 2007. He's 59, but he  looks you straight in the eye and insists that he's going to live until  he's 125 years old.  
   But the past still beckons. When it comes to Internet lore, McHenry is  one of those figures people tend to forget about. He's a guy who started  an influential company way ahead of its time. But he underestimated  what it would become, and sold the company for much less than what it  would be worth some day.  
   McHenry's first company, Network Solutions, became the virtual real  estate broker for most of the world's Internet domain names. But McHenry  sold Network Solutions just before it became a global brand name. Just  before everyone became rich. Right at the cusp of the dot-com boom.  
   He's not bitter, but at times he is wistful.  
   "I'd be 100 times richer, but I'm comfortable with me," he says. "I have no regrets."  
  A would-be billionaire  

   NetCom Solutions, his current company, does a little bit of everything:  telecom, software, network management, integration and supply chain  management. The company has a long list of government clients, including  the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Agriculture and  the General Services Administration. But it also has a stable of  private-sector clients, ranging from AT&T to Lucent Technologies to  the Pepsi Bottling Co.  
   McHenry is a dedicated futurist. He talks excitedly about the  cutting-edge telecom technology his company is researching. He thinks  multiparty computer gaming is going to be huge, and looks forward to  having holograms in his house. He exudes the enthusiasm of a Gen-X  techie, but he's old enough to recall the days when a black businessman  had trouble getting a bank loan, and venture capitalists wouldn't touch  his business.  
   "On Wall Street, no one knew what the Internet was in 1993 and '94," McHenry says. "We couldn't raise the money."  
   But back to the billionaire thing. In hindsight, McHenry says he would  have sold Network Solutions for "nine figures" � a couple hundred  million.  
   In 1979, McHenry and a few associates were looking to start an  engineering company, and it became Network Solutions. For 16 years, he  and his partners toiled away and built a solid company. The unknown gem  within Network Solutions was an obscure contract with the National  Science Foundation which called on the company to handle the  government's domain name addressing system for the Internet. This was  back when the Internet was just a government project, and its commercial  potential hadn't been realized. McHenry and his partners saw a chance  to make a nice profit, and sold Network Solutions in 1995 for a modest  $5 million.  
   The rest of the story for Network Solutions is history.  
   SAIC sold Network Solutions to VeriSign for $21 billion in 2000 at the  peak of the Internet boom. It was the biggest pure Internet deal in  history. Who knows, if McHenry had held out, rode the Internet boom and  realized the demand for millions of domain name addresses, he could be a  very, very rich man.  
   "We misjudged the fact that demand would drive the telecom  infrastructure," McHenry says. "But I don't regret anything. We spent a  lot of time being engineering purists and we didn't focus on the  capitalist potential."  
   Still, McHenry insists, "a man should never regret selling at a profit."  
  His next big thing  

   McHenry's close friend of 40 years, Earl Brotten, who now works at  NetCom Solutions, says McHenry has whispered "I coulda been a  billionaire."  
   But that, alas, would be "regressing."  
   McHenry does have a little bit of Horatio Alger in him. He was born in  Arkansas and grew up in Tulsa, Okla. He was an entrepreneur at an early  age, taking on paper routes, lawn mowing jobs and other odd jobs at the  local country club.  
   He went to the University of Denver, an overwhelmingly white private  college. On his first day in 1962, McHenry immediately hit it off with  Brotten, who was one of the only other black guys in the dorm. Brotten  knew this strong young guy on a wrestling scholarship would make it big.  
   "Even in college he impressed me as being very hard-working," Brotten  says. "He's always been focused, and he knows how to get himself to a  place where he can meditate and become very focused."  
   Before he started Network Solutions, McHenry worked his way through a  variety of jobs at IBM, Connecticut General, Union Mutual and Allstate  Insurance. Prior to that, he was a lieutenant in the Marines.  
   Among the many figures in Greater Washington who have made a difference  in the past 20 years, McHenry is remembered mostly by the old-timers �  folks like Mario Morino, who lists McHenry among the early adopters of  Internet technology.  
   But that past may be a prologue to McHenry's next big thing. He's been  spending a lot of time in California with his research and development  team, looking for telecom breakthroughs. He won't talk about any  specifics yet, but given his history, don't bet against him.  
   "This is what I'm passionate about," McHenry says. "When you start talking about these things, that's what gets me excited."  
         E-mail: mkady@bizjournals.com Phone: 703/312-8345

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@Obadele Kambon, thanks for sharing...

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How Kmtyw Americans Lost Control of the Internet

                      Written by George C. Fraser
          Published in Financial



I’ll remember what I was doing on March 8th 2000; just  as vividly as I remember the aftermath of December 1, 1955, when Rosa  Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus; the feeling and  the impact on me was almost the same.
 I had a few days off from what is usually a hectic speaking schedule;  parked in my office chair I started my daily routine of reading at  least three newspapers. united snakes Today was first. Beginning with the front  page, then flipping quickly to the business section I instantly noticed  the headline;  “VeriSign acquiring Network Solutions for $21 billion.” I  blinked . . . twice, in disbelief I read the article again and again.  First I jumped for joy, then sank into a funk and depression. Joy,  because I knew the two, techno savvy brothers who created the Internet  domain name registration system for the entire world, a technical coup  worthy of bragging rights and the billions Bill Gates earned for his  “borrowed” Windows operating system which runs 80% of the world’s  computers.
 I was depressed because they sold their company: Network Solutions  only 60 short months ago to Scientific Applications International  Corporation for a bargain basement price of $4.5 million, a deal that  reminded me of Garrett Morgan’s sale of his 1923 traffic light patent to  GE for $40,000. Why is it that white folks always end up with all the  money, and Black folks get the bragging rights? Did race matter?,  absolutely, so much so I classify this transaction as the most vivid  example of white skin privilege and Black apathy in the history of Black  business. How did a story like this slip by most Kmtyw Americans, a  story that needs to be told if for no other reason then to extract the  business lessons God wants us to learn one more time.
 “The Best Investment Ever Made in the Internet Era”
 In the second-largest technology deal ever, trailing only Lucent’s  $21.1 billion acquisition of Ascend Communications in 1999, and what has  been called by many as “the best investment ever made in the Internet  era”, Scientific Applications International Corp (SAIC) sold Network  Solutions Inc. (NSI) for $21 billion to VeriSigns, the No. 1 maker of  encryption software. Considering what SAIC paid for it, no one can  refute that claim. SAIC a deep pocketed defense contractor based in San  Diego is one of the largest closely held firms in the country with about  $4 billion in annual revenues.  Dependent on federal contracts for  about 80% of its revenue, the firm is politically savvy with numerous  top government officials on its payroll, such as retired Admiral Bobby  Ray Imman and former Defense Secretary William Perry. The Wall Street  Journal reports the firm and its executives typically make more than  $100,000 in political contributions in every congressional election  cycle. Michael A. Daniels, sector vice president of SAIC, said he looked  at 40 Internet infrastructure companies before buying Network Solutions  for $4.5 million (plus the assumption of all debt) in March 1995. Emmit  McHenry former CEO, and one of the four founding partners said he  reluctantly sold the company to SAIC with the agreement of his other  Black partner Tyrone Grigsby and two white partners, Gary Desler and Ed  Peters after several years of red ink from product development costs,  lost contracts and fruitless efforts trying to raise money in the Black  community and on Wall Street to keep the company afloat.
                                Living His Dream
 Network Solutions was the dream of Emmit McHenry; a visionary with  business savvy, a Mensa IQ and , among other things, conversant in  nutrition and eastern philosophy. Meticulous, and intense, Emmit smiled  and laughed easily. He was as comfortable talking about the future of  technology as he was talking about what was happening in ”the hood”.  Born in Forest City, Arkansas but raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma by  entrepreneurial parents who thrived in the construction business not  long after Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street” period. Emmit attended the  University of Denver where he met Al White, a native of Brooklyn, NY who  was to become his vice president of corporate marketing some twelve  years after Emmit and Tyrone Grigsby bootstrapped the start of their  business in 1979. Emmit went to work in the insurance industry and  slowly climbed his way up the corporate ladder to become AllState’s  first black Regional Vice President. His income and credit helped to  keep the company going. In 1987, he left Allstate to become Network  Solutions Inc. full-time CEO, based in the Washington, D.C. area.
Bitten  by the technology bug, Emmit read and studied every thing he could  find, and astutely predicted that networks of computers were going to be  the wave of the future. NSI began as a telecommunications consultancy  and a IBM systems developer for government agencies. They thrived for a  short while on Federal 8(a) contracts for minority businesses, then soon  landed a substantial multi-year,  multi-million dollar deal with  AT&T; the largest ever awarded to a minority business. Within 12  years, they grew their company to 250 employees, several offices and  more than $30 million annually. Their vision, and technical expertise  was unsurpassed, their reputation grew among Washington’s beltway  insiders.
 I visited Emmit and Al in their beautifully appointed Herndon,  Virginia offices in the Spring of 1993. Our discussion centered around  their new Internet asset of which I didn’t have the vaguest idea of its  potential but got caught up in their vision and enthusiasm. At the time I  was publishing SuccessGuide, The Networking Guide to Black Resources  for eight cities, I wanted to feature Emmit and seek his advice on  managing the 250,000 name database of Black professionals and business  owners I had collected as part of a national networking databank vision I  had.  Emmit was helpful, we shared the same vision. The problem I had  was keeping track of all the changes and finding a more cost-effective  way to connect people and provide network members quick and easy access  to each other. They assured me the Internet would soon make that process  easier and suggested I register Frasernet.com. It was free in those  days so I did; I was first on my block to have a dot com address.  My  site has since gone through six versions and most recently was launched  as Frasernet.com; Black America’s Resource for Building Contacts,  Careers and Community.
 Emmit and Al dragged me into the 21st century before any of my  friends knew what a dot com was. I just wish I had a few thounited snakesnd  dollars to invest in their company, I’d be a multii-millionaire today.   Oh well, at least I can say to my grandchildren “I was there when it all  started” . . . . on second thought, maybe I won’t, they might ask why  I’m not a billionaire.
 Winning the Contract of the Century
 In 1992, after competing with the likes of Stanford University; the  epicenter of the technology explosion, NSI landed a five-year contract  with the National Science Foundation to develop domain-name registration  for the Internet. The contract gave NSI the sole authority to develop  the system and issue Web addresses ending with “.com”, “.net”, “.org”,   “.edu” and “.gov”,  domain names such as BET.com or CNN.com had to  register to enter the Internet through NSI. So before there was  Amazon.com, eBay.com or Yahoo.com there was Network Solutions. It was  the first real Internet business, the on-ramp and worldwide traffic cop  for the web . . . it was also an exclusive franchise and a legal  monopoly with incredible potential. Very few people knew it was Black  owned. It was a joyous time; “ahh rights” and high fives peppered the  NSI office.  Everybody was happy, Emmit and his partners saw great  potential and cash flow and the federal government felt they unloaded a  sticky little task that probably would have cost five times as much if  they tried to do it.
 At the time NSI won the contract few thought much of the Internet, it  was largely the province of academics and technicians, the World Wide  Web didn’t exist and the number of Internet domain names stood at only  7500. The government agreed to pay NSI $1 million a year to develop the  system and register the names. But much to everybody’s surprise in the  first year Network Solutions registered 13,000 addresses and posted a  net loss of $386,000. Electronic communications was beginning to take  off. In Geneva, Switzerland software engineer Tim Berners – Lee created  the Internet graphical display method that gave birth to the World Wide  Web. At the University of Illinois, undergraduate Marc Andressen --  later to be co-founder of Netscape Communications Corp – helped create  “Mosaic” one of the first pieces of software that helped users navigate  the Web.
 Over the next two years, the Internet was invaded by hoards of  non-technical users, and corporations began to stake their claims in  cyberspace. Network Solutions had to hire more workers and buy new  equipment while constrained by a fixed - $1 million/year contract. Their  good fortune began to turn bad.  That same year, inspite of technical  excellence and low price the company lost two large government contracts  to TRW and EDS . . . the politics of federal contracts was beginning to  take its toll. In 1994, the firm posted a loss of $930,000. NSI filed a  suit against the government for awarding a contract and not using the  selection criteria, legal fees mounted and things began to get sticky.  The company was deep in red ink. Additionally, the four partners all of  whom had lived on modest salaries, reinvesting everything they had into  growing the business, now had personal debt that was mounting. The  pressure was on to get fresh capital for personal use as well as  to  keep ahead of the heated growth of their new Internet business.  Something had to be done, access to capital became the key focus of  Emmit and Al White; who had been hired in 1991 as vice president of  corporate marketing.  Al was the perfect choice for the newly formed  position. He was a long-time and loyal friend of Emmit; plus he came  armed with a MBA from Columbia University, and a strong background in  finance. Al cut his financial teeth with Bankers Trust and JP Morgan,  two of Wall Streets bastions of capital formation and management. Al was  instrumental in landing the multi-million dollar contract with AT&T  for the company, his next job was to help Emmit find fresh money and  debt financing for the firm.
 The Hunt for Capital Begins
 To raise the much-needed capital Emmit and Al began setting up formal  and informal meetings with several high profile Blacks in business (who  shall remain nameless), the response was one of mild curiosity but  mostly disinterest. Al said “The attitude implied but not said was; if  this Internet asset is so great and full of potential, why would white  folks give it to Black folks?”  Emmit experienced similar responses when  for example while holding a meeting at a popular DC watering hole to  discuss the opportunity, the supposedly interested party casually  listened and simultaneously engage in an unrelated side conversation  with someone who impolitely interrupted the discussion. Emmit said his  ego was bruised, he told me “George, the apathy and loathing was  palpable and I wasn’t going to beg these Negroes for money. If they  can’t see it, I’m moving on to Wall Street”. When I asked him recently  what he would have done differently given the chance, he said two  things, “first, I should have been more aggressive in my pursuit of  money from our people . . . but my ego got in the way, I regret that.   Second, I spent so much time working on my business that I didn’t spend  enough time working on my network of relationships outside my sphere of  expertise, that was a mistake, I planned to change that”.
 After the poor reception Emmit and the partners moved on to Wall  Street, the reception was in effect, (excuse my Ebonics on this) the  white folk’s version of  “nigga please”!  Emmit said “the image of a  Black man doing serious business in the world of technology, let alone  having a monopoly on an asset that was pivotal to the growth of the new  e-economy was so foreign and incongruent with the image of Black men in  America, that most of the serious financiers politely listened to my  presentation, dismissed me with a smile and handshake and probably fell  on the floor laughing when we left the room”. The Wall Street reception  was insulting, racist and a waste of valuable time. Emmit said the  environment on Wall Street hasn’t change much since then, referring to  his most recent experience several months ago when he sent the white CFO  of his new $300 million/year company; Netcom Solutions International to  Wall Street to raise $200 million in debt financing. The CFO came back  very disturbed that his efforts although successful, were fraught with  racist remarks and obvious bias related to skin color. Emmit felt  compelled to call a senior executive meeting to fully discuss the issue  and future remedies.
 Things were getting progressively worse at the company, a couple of  the partners were close to personal bankruptcy, and Emmit was on the  hook for $7 million personally in technology development costs.  Al had  negotiated a deal with AT&T for $5 million but it was restricted to  reinvestment in the company only, none of it could be used personally,  thus only part of their problem could be solved. Anybody that’s ever  been in business can relate to that dilemma.
 Earlier they had begun negotiating with the National Science  Foundation to allow them to charge for domain addressing and share the  profits with NSF. This would have released them from their money losing   multi-year contract and lay the foundation for profitability within  12-24 months. The bureaucrats at NSF entertained the idea but needed  political muscle to stray from their contract. No one in Network  Solutions had the political clout or muscle to pull it off. Time was now  running out and a decision had to be made. SAIC was shopping and really  liked what they saw at NSI and wanted the company badly. They made them  an offer of $4.5 million of SAIC, ESOP (non-tradable) stock,  the  assumption of all debt (around $15 million) plus other long-term  incentives amounting to approximately $5.0 million.
 The partners were tired, financially distressed and frustrated. These  are the times in small businesses when people start pointing fingers  and placing blame, so before everybody started throwing bricks at each  other, they accepted the offer. While there was no big celebration,  everyone was relieved except Al White. Al felt the Internet asset was  undervalued by SAIC and sold off prematurely. He was disappointed that  Emmit did not think to find a way for them to partner and buy it. Emmit  said “he just didn’t think of it” and it was now time to move on. It was  a bitter pill for Al to swallow, but he too has moved on to start his  own consultancy group called Promark International LLC whose goal is to  raise a $100 million technology fund for minorities. Emmit stayed with  SAIC for several months during the transition, then started Netcom  Solutions International, a highly successful company which specializes  in selling information technology to emerging nations. Emmit has offices  in Johannesburg, S. Kmt and Washington, D.C., Tyrone Grigsby is  doing prison ministry work and working with young entrepreneurs in the  Washington D.C. area, Gary Desler, lives in Las Vegas and Ed Peters is  working for SAIC. But I’m sure when they read the March 8th headline,  they blinked twice.
 From $4.5 Million to $21 Billion in 60 months
 The Wall Street Journal reported that SAIC moved in quickly to  exploit its monopoly in cyberspace. Network Solutions was whittled down  to a pure Internet company, with most of its employees transferred to  SAIC, and a torrent of fresh capital went into its new core operation,  domain names. In addition, SAIC recruited as Network Solutions new chief  executive officer Gabriel Battista, the politically active former head  of U.S. operations for United Kingdom based Cable & Wireless PLC.
 Then a great bit of good fortune struck. The cash strapped National  Science Foundation decided it could no longer justify spending taxpayer  dollars to fund domain-name registration, an increasingly commercial  enterprise that had lost much of its academic character. So the  foundation allowed Network Solutions to start charging for registration  and maintenance. Something Emmit and Tyrone could not do, nor had the  political contacts to help the NSF reach their new decision.
 Within 18 months (fourth qtr. of 1996) NSI was profitable. By early  1997, they had registered their millionth “fee-based” domain, revenue  skyrocketed to $61 million and by September (with the help of investment  bankers, JP Morgan) they had taken the company public at $18.00 a  share, raising $68 million on 3.5 million shares of stock, accounting  for 25% of the company. This increased the market value of Network  Solutions to $272 million. Some twenty-four months later (assuming it  takes 3-6 months to complete a deal this size) they began the process to  sell the company for $21 billion dollars to VeriSign. SAIC had played  by the rules, they found and purchased a undervalued and underleverage  asset. There was no visible gun pointed at the heads of the partners to  sign the deal, no one could predict the good fortune that lie ahead, but  everyone knew the potential was enormous, and two unspoken forces were  at work.
 White Skin Privilege
 Senator Bill Bradley used this term as one of the themes for his  Presidential campaign run. He was referring to the fact that many whites  in America have failed to realize that the very fact of their skin  color has conferred certain privileges and status that have enabled them  to benefit from a permanent and systemic affirmative action program.  Most whites today are in denial about this and would prefer to believe  Blacks are paranoid about racism and ought to get on with bootstrapping  and effectively competing for the myriad of opportunities awaiting all  Americans. Many have, but in the lily-white world of high finance the  unwritten rules still favor the upward mobility of white males. This  privilege is partly responsible for Marc Andressen, the kid who  co-founded Netscape and Steve Case the founder of AOL for being able to  access the resources needed to grow and keep a significant portion of  their company and fortune. Each company started about the same time  Network Solutions was struggling to survive, in spite of the fact they  had one of the most important and pivotal Internet assets ever.
 The SAIC leadership clearly was no smarter than NSI’s leadership,  there was little that they did to turn the company around that Emmit,  Tyrone and Al had not also planned to do given access to capital. The  difference was not in SAIC's  business track record, but in SAIC'’  ability to access capital and the good old boy network.
 Case in point; SAIC’s track record was a bit checkered, but not  unusual for a company its size and complexity run by high powered white  males.  Jesse Hirsch, Director of the New Media Institute at the McLuhan  Program at the University of Toronto reported in Media, Mind and  Society that in 1990, SAIC was indicted by the Justice Department on 10  felony counts for fraud in its management of a Superfund toxic cleanup  site. They pleaded guilty. In 1993, the Justice Department sued SAIC  again, accusing it of civil fraud on an F15 fighter contract. In May  1995, the same period which they purchased Network Solutions, the  company settled a suit that charged it had lied about security system  tests it conducted for a Treasury Department currency plant in Fort  Worth, Texas. The company paid the government $125,000 to cover the cost  of the investigation as part of the settlement. My point is, at that  level, white males will continue to do business with each other in spite  of legal and/or credit infractions. Conversely Black males wouldn’t  even be considered for a serious business deal with only a minor  infraction. Often times even when we demonstrate technical excellence  and low price Blacks are denied significant public and private sector  opportunities.
 For Blacks, access to top executive talent, which the financiers and  banks require for major financing is as difficult as accessing capital.  For the most part whites will not work for Blacks and until recently  have we been able to grow our own talent and when we do, most of them  prefer to work for the big corporations. Banks and venture firms still  have higher standards for Blacks than anyone else. According to Al  White, of the $45 billion invested by venture capital firms in 1999,  less than 3% went to minority and women owned businesses and even a  smaller percent of that was technology based. Certainly it is not  because we lack good ideas, I’ve seen as many good and bad ideas from  Blacks as I’ve seen from whites, who by the way, get their financing,  make their millions and move on to the next idea. Certainly no one in  Black America is surprised by any of this, our parents told us two  things years ago; “you’re going to have to be twice as good to get half  as much” and “when you know its going to rain, take an umbrella”. Yes,  I’ve seen some progress recently but it’s slow and painful. Kmtyw  Americans must now step up to the plate in a more effective way to break  this cycle.
 Black Apathy Hurts Us
 On March 8th Black America suffered a big loss to include; prestige,  jobs, scholarships, possibly a large Black controlled technology fund  and a few new buildings named after Emmit and Tyrone. Any portion of a  $21 billion asset is substantial, in fact just 23% of the deal (the  portion SAIC managed to keep) is worth $3-4 billion depending when you  check the stock prices. Clearly Network Solutions deserved our support,  the talent and the opportunity was there, but this mistake has  demonstrated once again, that even smart people can miss the  consequences of their actions. The ultimate question for us today is; if  we did not have the technology consciousness to support NSI in 1994,  what don’t we have the consciousness to support today? What is going on  right now, under our noses in the e-economy that others see and will  make the next billion dollar fortune? How many $100,000 and million  dollar opportunities are we missing every day?
 The lessons for us are biblical in nature; the Israelites were made  to wander in the desert for 40 years before reaching the promise land,  why?, because they were found to be worshiping false Gods. In some  respect we are too; the Gods of self-hatred, pettiness, jealousy,  selfishness and mediocrity. For many, not all, the Willie Lynch  psychology still subconsciously holds a firm grip on our behavior toward  each other. Over time I believe this will change. Why?, because we have  achieved a critical mass consciousness about it; from consciousness  comes action then change, this is evolutionary not revolutionary. Here  are some things Blacks can do right now to help create a new “critical  mass consciousness” so we may take full advantage of this “once in a  lifetime” economic opportunity.
 Putting It All Together
 
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• Increase the Dialog: Just as Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Wall Street  Project heightened the awareness of the untapped investment potential of  Kmtyw Americans, it is now time to do the same in Silicon Valley and  Silicon Alley. If our top academics and leaders can effectively make a  case to secure $1 billion from Microsoft for minority scholarships and  $50 million for computers and software, our top technical and business  experts ought to be able to make the case for a $1 billion minority  controlled venture fund.  Considering what’s going on in e-commerce  today, the return on an investment of that nature would be immediate and  potentially profitable.
• Build Your Network. Passing out business cards indiscriminately is  not networking, it’s only the first step in a long, time honored process  of connecting; finding common ground and bonds. Make sure you spend as  much time building your relationships as you spend building your  business or career. The Internet will make this task much easier in the  future.
• Become Politically Connected. You’re either in or you’re out.  Political contacts for those in business or providing management and/or  leadership are critical. For those of us involved in e-business lets put  our money where our mouth is and start a e-business PAC (see box on  page___ for 7 additional strategies)
• Share Information. We must increase the number of e-economy focused  special events, conferences, seminars and/or plenary sessions we have  and/or attend. There are a few excellent ones produced by Blacks each  year (i.e. MOBE) but they are not as well attended, sponsored or  supported, as they should be. Whites are conferencing on this subject in  multiple places everyday.
• Increase Our Financial Engineering Knowledge. We must learn how to  structure big deals. Often time our language and lack of understanding  quickly eliminates us from even being considered for financing. Read up  on it and find a good Black CPA, lawyer or investment banker who  understands the structuring of deals.
• Develop a Black Controlled Technology Superfund. One billion dollars  within 24 months should be the goal. There are several small black  controlled/managed funds today; they specialize in the development of  niche areas of e-commerce. They are doing a good job, but a superfund is  needed. There are numerous banks, tech corporations and venture  capitalists waiting for us to make the case.
• Be More Entrepreneurial. We must transcend our “poverty mentality”  not only in how conservatively we invest our money, but also this  aversion we have to business risk. It is said “you must first be willing  to do something badly before you will ever be able to do it well”.  Manage your risks, but take some in the new e-economy.
• Engage the Internet.  All the good ideas and big money is not gone.  Steve Case, CEO of AOL likes to say “its’ the 2nd inning of a 9 inning  game”. We are in the “Model T” phase of Internet development, get  involved now. (see box on page___)
• Think Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances, Partnerships. Wherever we  are going we won’t get there by ourselves, on our own, in a vacuum.  E-businesses that were throwing bricks at each other 12 months ago are  either doing deals, merging, or figuring out how to work together. We  must too. The best Black business models we have are all doing it,  successfully.
• Close the Digital Divide. Every Black person with an annual  household income over $30,000 should have a home-based computer that is  linked to the Internet. Our ability to communicate and link to each  other instantly will have a profound impact on demonstrating the power  of “our voice” to effect change in the public and private sector.
• Hype Technology Up. It will be up to Black media to create interest  and excitement about this new e-economy. As the success stories are told  and the excitement grows more young people will want careers in  computer-related fields and the “geek” image will change. They will  bring the same zeal, creativity and financial savvy they brought to  Hip-Hop culture. Perhaps some of our HBCUs will create majors and minors  in e-commerce; e-marketing, Internet and web-site development.
• Annually Convene to Recognize and Track Results  “Inspect what you  expect”, is what I was always told. Recognition and awards in the  category of business and technology should be added to annual  recognitions such as NAACP Image Awards. Local award events must also do  the same.
• Stay The Course, Stay The Course, Stay The Course. It took 250 years  for emancipation and 100 years to obtain civil rights, voting rights  and public access. Closing the “technology opportunity” gap must get  done in one generation. Stay The Course!

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 These are but a few things we can do right now to insure another  Network Solutions does not slip through our fingers. And by the way,  don’t feel badly for Emmit, Tyrone and Al, they are doing just fine  thank you. In fact in my mind they are our newest pioneer type heroes;  in the spirit of Garrett Morgan and Matthew Henson.  They were there for  us . . . representing Black America when the e-economy all started.  They saw it, recognized its potential, seized it and did the best they  could with what they had. The sad part is that we were not there for  them. The racial advantages that lead to the unpleasant result was  predictable, we all know the script.
 So once again God has a lesson for people of Kmtyw descent; could  it be he’s saying; we have everything we need to succeed, we have the  education, money and training, the only thing we need now is each other!
 George Fraser is a best-selling author and founder of Frasernet.com;   Black America’s Best Resource for Building Contacts, Careers and  Community.

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How Kmtyw Americans Lost Control of the Internet

                      Written by George C. Fraser
          Published in Financial



I'll remember what I was doing on March 8th 2000; just  as vividly as I remember the aftermath of December 1, 1955, when Rosa  Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus; the feeling and  the impact on me was almost the same.
 I had a few days off from what is usually a hectic speaking schedule;  parked in my office chair I started my daily routine of reading at  least three newspapers. united snakes Today was first. Beginning with the front  page, then flipping quickly to the business section I instantly noticed  the headline;  "VeriSign acquiring Network Solutions for $21 billion." I  blinked . . . twice, in disbelief I read the article again and again.  First I jumped for joy, then sank into a funk and depression. Joy,  because I knew the two, techno savvy brothers who created the Internet  domain name registration system for the entire world, a technical coup  worthy of bragging rights and the billions Bill Gates earned for his  "borrowed" Windows operating system which runs 80% of the world's  computers.
 I was depressed because they sold their company: Network Solutions  only 60 short months ago to Scientific Applications International  Corporation for a bargain basement price of $4.5 million, a deal that  reminded me of Garrett Morgan's sale of his 1923 traffic light patent to  GE for $40,000. Why is it that white folks always end up with all the  money, and Black folks get the bragging rights? Did race matter?,  absolutely, so much so I classify this transaction as the most vivid  example of white skin privilege and Black apathy in the history of Black  business. How did a story like this slip by most Kmtyw Americans, a  story that needs to be told if for no other reason then to extract the  business lessons God wants us to learn one more time.
 "The Best Investment Ever Made in the Internet Era"
 In the second-largest technology deal ever, trailing only Lucent's  $21.1 billion acquisition of Ascend Communications in 1999, and what has  been called by many as "the best investment ever made in the Internet  era", Scientific Applications International Corp (SAIC) sold Network  Solutions Inc. (NSI) for $21 billion to VeriSigns, the No. 1 maker of  encryption software. Considering what SAIC paid for it, no one can  refute that claim. SAIC a deep pocketed defense contractor based in San  Diego is one of the largest closely held firms in the country with about  $4 billion in annual revenues.  Dependent on federal contracts for  about 80% of its revenue, the firm is politically savvy with numerous  top government officials on its payroll, such as retired Admiral Bobby  Ray Imman and former Defense Secretary William Perry. The Wall Street  Journal reports the firm and its executives typically make more than  $100,000 in political contributions in every congressional election  cycle. Michael A. Daniels, sector vice president of SAIC, said he looked  at 40 Internet infrastructure companies before buying Network Solutions  for $4.5 million (plus the assumption of all debt) in March 1995. Emmit  McHenry former CEO, and one of the four founding partners said he  reluctantly sold the company to SAIC with the agreement of his other  Black partner Tyrone Grigsby and two white partners, Gary Desler and Ed  Peters after several years of red ink from product development costs,  lost contracts and fruitless efforts trying to raise money in the Black  community and on Wall Street to keep the company afloat.
                                Living His Dream
 Network Solutions was the dream of Emmit McHenry; a visionary with  business savvy, a Mensa IQ and , among other things, conversant in  nutrition and eastern philosophy. Meticulous, and intense, Emmit smiled  and laughed easily. He was as comfortable talking about the future of  technology as he was talking about what was happening in "the hood".  Born in Forest City, Arkansas but raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma by  entrepreneurial parents who thrived in the construction business not  long after Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" period. Emmit attended the  University of Denver where he met Al White, a native of Brooklyn, NY who  was to become his vice president of corporate marketing some twelve  years after Emmit and Tyrone Grigsby bootstrapped the start of their  business in 1979. Emmit went to work in the insurance industry and  slowly climbed his way up the corporate ladder to become AllState's  first black Regional Vice President. His income and credit helped to  keep the company going. In 1987, he left Allstate to become Network  Solutions Inc. full-time CEO, based in the Washington, D.C. area.
Bitten  by the technology bug, Emmit read and studied every thing he could  find, and astutely predicted that networks of computers were going to be  the wave of the future. NSI began as a telecommunications consultancy  and a IBM systems developer for government agencies. They thrived for a  short while on Federal 8(a) contracts for minority businesses, then soon  landed a substantial multi-year,  multi-million dollar deal with  AT&T; the largest ever awarded to a minority business. Within 12  years, they grew their company to 250 employees, several offices and  more than $30 million annually. Their vision, and technical expertise  was unsurpassed, their reputation grew among Washington's beltway  insiders.
 I visited Emmit and Al in their beautifully appointed Herndon,  Virginia offices in the Spring of 1993. Our discussion centered around  their new Internet asset of which I didn't have the vaguest idea of its  potential but got caught up in their vision and enthusiasm. At the time I  was publishing SuccessGuide, The Networking Guide to Black Resources  for eight cities, I wanted to feature Emmit and seek his advice on  managing the 250,000 name database of Black professionals and business  owners I had collected as part of a national networking databank vision I  had.  Emmit was helpful, we shared the same vision. The problem I had  was keeping track of all the changes and finding a more cost-effective  way to connect people and provide network members quick and easy access  to each other. They assured me the Internet would soon make that process  easier and suggested I register Frasernet.com. It was free in those  days so I did; I was first on my block to have a dot com address.  My  site has since gone through six versions and most recently was launched  as Frasernet.com; Black America's Resource for Building Contacts,  Careers and Community.
 Emmit and Al dragged me into the 21st century before any of my  friends knew what a dot com was. I just wish I had a few thounited snakesnd  dollars to invest in their company, I'd be a multii-millionaire today.   Oh well, at least I can say to my grandchildren "I was there when it all  started" . . . . on second thought, maybe I won't, they might ask why  I'm not a billionaire.
 Winning the Contract of the Century
 In 1992, after competing with the likes of Stanford University; the  epicenter of the technology explosion, NSI landed a five-year contract  with the National Science Foundation to develop domain-name registration  for the Internet. The contract gave NSI the sole authority to develop  the system and issue Web addresses ending with ".com", ".net", ".org",   ".edu" and ".gov",  domain names such as BET.com or CNN.com had to  register to enter the Internet through NSI. So before there was  Amazon.com, eBay.com or Yahoo.com there was Network Solutions. It was  the first real Internet business, the on-ramp and worldwide traffic cop  for the web . . . it was also an exclusive franchise and a legal  monopoly with incredible potential. Very few people knew it was Black  owned. It was a joyous time; "ahh rights" and high fives peppered the  NSI office.  Everybody was happy, Emmit and his partners saw great  potential and cash flow and the federal government felt they unloaded a  sticky little task that probably would have cost five times as much if  they tried to do it.
 At the time NSI won the contract few thought much of the Internet, it  was largely the province of academics and technicians, the World Wide  Web didn't exist and the number of Internet domain names stood at only  7500. The government agreed to pay NSI $1 million a year to develop the  system and register the names. But much to everybody's surprise in the  first year Network Solutions registered 13,000 addresses and posted a  net loss of $386,000. Electronic communications was beginning to take  off. In Geneva, Switzerland software engineer Tim Berners – Lee created  the Internet graphical display method that gave birth to the World Wide  Web. At the University of Illinois, undergraduate Marc Andressen --  later to be co-founder of Netscape Communications Corp – helped create  "Mosaic" one of the first pieces of software that helped users navigate  the Web.
 Over the next two years, the Internet was invaded by hoards of  non-technical users, and corporations began to stake their claims in  cyberspace. Network Solutions had to hire more workers and buy new  equipment while constrained by a fixed - $1 million/year contract. Their  good fortune began to turn bad.  That same year, inspite of technical  excellence and low price the company lost two large government contracts  to TRW and EDS . . . the politics of federal contracts was beginning to  take its toll. In 1994, the firm posted a loss of $930,000. NSI filed a  suit against the government for awarding a contract and not using the  selection criteria, legal fees mounted and things began to get sticky.  The company was deep in red ink. Additionally, the four partners all of  whom had lived on modest salaries, reinvesting everything they had into  growing the business, now had personal debt that was mounting. The  pressure was on to get fresh capital for personal use as well as  to  keep ahead of the heated growth of their new Internet business.  Something had to be done, access to capital became the key focus of  Emmit and Al White; who had been hired in 1991 as vice president of  corporate marketing.  Al was the perfect choice for the newly formed  position. He was a long-time and loyal friend of Emmit; plus he came  armed with a MBA from Columbia University, and a strong background in  finance. Al cut his financial teeth with Bankers Trust and JP Morgan,  two of Wall Streets bastions of capital formation and management. Al was  instrumental in landing the multi-million dollar contract with AT&T  for the company, his next job was to help Emmit find fresh money and  debt financing for the firm.
 The Hunt for Capital Begins
 To raise the much-needed capital Emmit and Al began setting up formal  and informal meetings with several high profile Blacks in business (who  shall remain nameless), the response was one of mild curiosity but  mostly disinterest. Al said "The attitude implied but not said was; if  this Internet asset is so great and full of potential, why would white  folks give it to Black folks?"  Emmit experienced similar responses when  for example while holding a meeting at a popular DC watering hole to  discuss the opportunity, the supposedly interested party casually  listened and simultaneously engage in an unrelated side conversation  with someone who impolitely interrupted the discussion. Emmit said his  ego was bruised, he told me "George, the apathy and loathing was  palpable and I wasn't going to beg these Negroes for money. If they  can't see it, I'm moving on to Wall Street". When I asked him recently  what he would have done differently given the chance, he said two  things, "first, I should have been more aggressive in my pursuit of  money from our people . . . but my ego got in the way, I regret that.   Second, I spent so much time working on my business that I didn't spend  enough time working on my network of relationships outside my sphere of  expertise, that was a mistake, I planned to change that".
 After the poor reception Emmit and the partners moved on to Wall  Street, the reception was in effect, (excuse my Ebonics on this) the  white folk's version of  "nigga please"!  Emmit said "the image of a  Black man doing serious business in the world of technology, let alone  having a monopoly on an asset that was pivotal to the growth of the new  e-economy was so foreign and incongruent with the image of Black men in  America, that most of the serious financiers politely listened to my  presentation, dismissed me with a smile and handshake and probably fell  on the floor laughing when we left the room". The Wall Street reception  was insulting, racist and a waste of valuable time. Emmit said the  environment on Wall Street hasn't change much since then, referring to  his most recent experience several months ago when he sent the white CFO  of his new $300 million/year company; Netcom Solutions International to  Wall Street to raise $200 million in debt financing. The CFO came back  very disturbed that his efforts although successful, were fraught with  racist remarks and obvious bias related to skin color. Emmit felt  compelled to call a senior executive meeting to fully discuss the issue  and future remedies.
 Things were getting progressively worse at the company, a couple of  the partners were close to personal bankruptcy, and Emmit was on the  hook for $7 million personally in technology development costs.  Al had  negotiated a deal with AT&T for $5 million but it was restricted to  reinvestment in the company only, none of it could be used personally,  thus only part of their problem could be solved. Anybody that's ever  been in business can relate to that dilemma.
 Earlier they had begun negotiating with the National Science  Foundation to allow them to charge for domain addressing and share the  profits with NSF. This would have released them from their money losing   multi-year contract and lay the foundation for profitability within  12-24 months. The bureaucrats at NSF entertained the idea but needed  political muscle to stray from their contract. No one in Network  Solutions had the political clout or muscle to pull it off. Time was now  running out and a decision had to be made. SAIC was shopping and really  liked what they saw at NSI and wanted the company badly. They made them  an offer of $4.5 million of SAIC, ESOP (non-tradable) stock,  the  assumption of all debt (around $15 million) plus other long-term  incentives amounting to approximately $5.0 million.
 The partners were tired, financially distressed and frustrated. These  are the times in small businesses when people start pointing fingers  and placing blame, so before everybody started throwing bricks at each  other, they accepted the offer. While there was no big celebration,  everyone was relieved except Al White. Al felt the Internet asset was  undervalued by SAIC and sold off prematurely. He was disappointed that  Emmit did not think to find a way for them to partner and buy it. Emmit  said "he just didn't think of it" and it was now time to move on. It was  a bitter pill for Al to swallow, but he too has moved on to start his  own consultancy group called Promark International LLC whose goal is to  raise a $100 million technology fund for minorities. Emmit stayed with  SAIC for several months during the transition, then started Netcom  Solutions International, a highly successful company which specializes  in selling information technology to emerging nations. Emmit has offices  in Johannesburg, S. Kmt and Washington, D.C., Tyrone Grigsby is  doing prison ministry work and working with young entrepreneurs in the  Washington D.C. area, Gary Desler, lives in Las Vegas and Ed Peters is  working for SAIC. But I'm sure when they read the March 8th headline,  they blinked twice.
 From $4.5 Million to $21 Billion in 60 months
 The Wall Street Journal reported that SAIC moved in quickly to  exploit its monopoly in cyberspace. Network Solutions was whittled down  to a pure Internet company, with most of its employees transferred to  SAIC, and a torrent of fresh capital went into its new core operation,  domain names. In addition, SAIC recruited as Network Solutions new chief  executive officer Gabriel Battista, the politically active former head  of U.S. operations for United Kingdom based Cable & Wireless PLC.
 Then a great bit of good fortune struck. The cash strapped National  Science Foundation decided it could no longer justify spending taxpayer  dollars to fund domain-name registration, an increasingly commercial  enterprise that had lost much of its academic character. So the  foundation allowed Network Solutions to start charging for registration  and maintenance. Something Emmit and Tyrone could not do, nor had the  political contacts to help the NSF reach their new decision.
 Within 18 months (fourth qtr. of 1996) NSI was profitable. By early  1997, they had registered their millionth "fee-based" domain, revenue  skyrocketed to $61 million and by September (with the help of investment  bankers, JP Morgan) they had taken the company public at $18.00 a  share, raising $68 million on 3.5 million shares of stock, accounting  for 25% of the company. This increased the market value of Network  Solutions to $272 million. Some twenty-four months later (assuming it  takes 3-6 months to complete a deal this size) they began the process to  sell the company for $21 billion dollars to VeriSign. SAIC had played  by the rules, they found and purchased a undervalued and underleverage  asset. There was no visible gun pointed at the heads of the partners to  sign the deal, no one could predict the good fortune that lie ahead, but  everyone knew the potential was enormous, and two unspoken forces were  at work.
 White Skin Privilege
 Senator Bill Bradley used this term as one of the themes for his  Presidential campaign run. He was referring to the fact that many whites  in America have failed to realize that the very fact of their skin  color has conferred certain privileges and status that have enabled them  to benefit from a permanent and systemic affirmative action program.  Most whites today are in denial about this and would prefer to believe  Blacks are paranoid about racism and ought to get on with bootstrapping  and effectively competing for the myriad of opportunities awaiting all  Americans. Many have, but in the lily-white world of high finance the  unwritten rules still favor the upward mobility of white males. This  privilege is partly responsible for Marc Andressen, the kid who  co-founded Netscape and Steve Case the founder of AOL for being able to  access the resources needed to grow and keep a significant portion of  their company and fortune. Each company started about the same time  Network Solutions was struggling to survive, in spite of the fact they  had one of the most important and pivotal Internet assets ever.
 The SAIC leadership clearly was no smarter than NSI's leadership,  there was little that they did to turn the company around that Emmit,  Tyrone and Al had not also planned to do given access to capital. The  difference was not in SAIC's  business track record, but in SAIC''  ability to access capital and the good old boy network.
 Case in point; SAIC's track record was a bit checkered, but not  unusual for a company its size and complexity run by high powered white  males.  Jesse Hirsch, Director of the New Media Institute at the McLuhan  Program at the University of Toronto reported in Media, Mind and  Society that in 1990, SAIC was indicted by the Justice Department on 10  felony counts for fraud in its management of a Superfund toxic cleanup  site. They pleaded guilty. In 1993, the Justice Department sued SAIC  again, accusing it of civil fraud on an F15 fighter contract. In May  1995, the same period which they purchased Network Solutions, the  company settled a suit that charged it had lied about security system  tests it conducted for a Treasury Department currency plant in Fort  Worth, Texas. The company paid the government $125,000 to cover the cost  of the investigation as part of the settlement. My point is, at that  level, white males will continue to do business with each other in spite  of legal and/or credit infractions. Conversely Black males wouldn't  even be considered for a serious business deal with only a minor  infraction. Often times even when we demonstrate technical excellence  and low price Blacks are denied significant public and private sector  opportunities.
 For Blacks, access to top executive talent, which the financiers and  banks require for major financing is as difficult as accessing capital.  For the most part whites will not work for Blacks and until recently  have we been able to grow our own talent and when we do, most of them  prefer to work for the big corporations. Banks and venture firms still  have higher standards for Blacks than anyone else. According to Al  White, of the $45 billion invested by venture capital firms in 1999,  less than 3% went to minority and women owned businesses and even a  smaller percent of that was technology based. Certainly it is not  because we lack good ideas, I've seen as many good and bad ideas from  Blacks as I've seen from whites, who by the way, get their financing,  make their millions and move on to the next idea. Certainly no one in  Black America is surprised by any of this, our parents told us two  things years ago; "you're going to have to be twice as good to get half  as much" and "when you know its going to rain, take an umbrella". Yes,  I've seen some progress recently but it's slow and painful. Kmtyw  Americans must now step up to the plate in a more effective way to break  this cycle.
 Black Apathy Hurts Us
 On March 8th Black America suffered a big loss to include; prestige,  jobs, scholarships, possibly a large Black controlled technology fund  and a few new buildings named after Emmit and Tyrone. Any portion of a  $21 billion asset is substantial, in fact just 23% of the deal (the  portion SAIC managed to keep) is worth $3-4 billion depending when you  check the stock prices. Clearly Network Solutions deserved our support,  the talent and the opportunity was there, but this mistake has  demonstrated once again, that even smart people can miss the  consequences of their actions. The ultimate question for us today is; if  we did not have the technology consciousness to support NSI in 1994,  what don't we have the consciousness to support today? What is going on  right now, under our noses in the e-economy that others see and will  make the next billion dollar fortune? How many $100,000 and million  dollar opportunities are we missing every day?
 The lessons for us are biblical in nature; the Israelites were made  to wander in the desert for 40 years before reaching the promise land,  why?, because they were found to be worshiping false Gods. In some  respect we are too; the Gods of self-hatred, pettiness, jealousy,  selfishness and mediocrity. For many, not all, the Willie Lynch  psychology still subconsciously holds a firm grip on our behavior toward  each other. Over time I believe this will change. Why?, because we have  achieved a critical mass consciousness about it; from consciousness  comes action then change, this is evolutionary not revolutionary. Here  are some things Blacks can do right now to help create a new "critical  mass consciousness" so we may take full advantage of this "once in a  lifetime" economic opportunity.
 Putting It All Together
 
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• Increase the Dialog: Just as Rev. Jesse Jackson's Wall Street  Project heightened the awareness of the untapped investment potential of  Kmtyw Americans, it is now time to do the same in Silicon Valley and  Silicon Alley. If our top academics and leaders can effectively make a  case to secure $1 billion from Microsoft for minority scholarships and  $50 million for computers and software, our top technical and business  experts ought to be able to make the case for a $1 billion minority  controlled venture fund.  Considering what's going on in e-commerce  today, the return on an investment of that nature would be immediate and  potentially profitable.
• Build Your Network. Passing out business cards indiscriminately is  not networking, it's only the first step in a long, time honored process  of connecting; finding common ground and bonds. Make sure you spend as  much time building your relationships as you spend building your  business or career. The Internet will make this task much easier in the  future.
• Become Politically Connected. You're either in or you're out.  Political contacts for those in business or providing management and/or  leadership are critical. For those of us involved in e-business lets put  our money where our mouth is and start a e-business PAC (see box on  page___ for 7 additional strategies)
• Share Information. We must increase the number of e-economy focused  special events, conferences, seminars and/or plenary sessions we have  and/or attend. There are a few excellent ones produced by Blacks each  year (i.e. MOBE) but they are not as well attended, sponsored or  supported, as they should be. Whites are conferencing on this subject in  multiple places everyday.
• Increase Our Financial Engineering Knowledge. We must learn how to  structure big deals. Often time our language and lack of understanding  quickly eliminates us from even being considered for financing. Read up  on it and find a good Black CPA, lawyer or investment banker who  understands the structuring of deals.
• Develop a Black Controlled Technology Superfund. One billion dollars  within 24 months should be the goal. There are several small black  controlled/managed funds today; they specialize in the development of  niche areas of e-commerce. They are doing a good job, but a superfund is  needed. There are numerous banks, tech corporations and venture  capitalists waiting for us to make the case.
• Be More Entrepreneurial. We must transcend our "poverty mentality"  not only in how conservatively we invest our money, but also this  aversion we have to business risk. It is said "you must first be willing  to do something badly before you will ever be able to do it well".  Manage your risks, but take some in the new e-economy.
• Engage the Internet.  All the good ideas and big money is not gone.  Steve Case, CEO of AOL likes to say "its' the 2nd inning of a 9 inning  game". We are in the "Model T" phase of Internet development, get  involved now. (see box on page___)
• Think Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances, Partnerships. Wherever we  are going we won't get there by ourselves, on our own, in a vacuum.  E-businesses that were throwing bricks at each other 12 months ago are  either doing deals, merging, or figuring out how to work together. We  must too. The best Black business models we have are all doing it,  successfully.
• Close the Digital Divide. Every Black person with an annual  household income over $30,000 should have a home-based computer that is  linked to the Internet. Our ability to communicate and link to each  other instantly will have a profound impact on demonstrating the power  of "our voice" to effect change in the public and private sector.
• Hype Technology Up. It will be up to Black media to create interest  and excitement about this new e-economy. As the success stories are told  and the excitement grows more young people will want careers in  computer-related fields and the "geek" image will change. They will  bring the same zeal, creativity and financial savvy they brought to  Hip-Hop culture. Perhaps some of our HBCUs will create majors and minors  in e-commerce; e-marketing, Internet and web-site development.
• Annually Convene to Recognize and Track Results  "Inspect what you  expect", is what I was always told. Recognition and awards in the  category of business and technology should be added to annual  recognitions such as NAACP Image Awards. Local award events must also do  the same.
• Stay The Course, Stay The Course, Stay The Course. It took 250 years  for emancipation and 100 years to obtain civil rights, voting rights  and public access. Closing the "technology opportunity" gap must get  done in one generation. Stay The Course!

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 These are but a few things we can do right now to insure another  Network Solutions does not slip through our fingers. And by the way,  don't feel badly for Emmit, Tyrone and Al, they are doing just fine  thank you. In fact in my mind they are our newest pioneer type heroes;  in the spirit of Garrett Morgan and Matthew Henson.  They were there for  us . . . representing Black America when the e-economy all started.  They saw it, recognized its potential, seized it and did the best they  could with what they had. The sad part is that we were not there for  them. The racial advantages that lead to the unpleasant result was  predictable, we all know the script.
 So once again God has a lesson for people of Kmtyw descent; could  it be he's saying; we have everything we need to succeed, we have the  education, money and training, the only thing we need now is each other!
 George Fraser is a best-selling author and founder of Frasernet.com;   Black America's Best Resource for Building Contacts, Careers and  Community.

[jthig]

Great article and interesting findings on a historic event @Obadele Kambon :Kmt:

I was very naive to the news of Network Solutions until about 2009 or 2010 and immediately was upset at another story of Kmtyw works being exploited. Especially because at the time I felt like they could have held out longer but reading this article brought home the fact that pressure was mounting and having control of a huge asset that no one supports can be extremely heavy. I don't agree with many of the suggestions toward the end of the article around building stronger networks and larger funds from corporate but the direction is attractive.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Good points. Most Black people, especially continental Kmtyws where I am have no idea that most all the things that they think are magically invented by eureurasians were actually invented by Kmtyw people (usually trying to prove that they're just as good as eureurasians). This kind of information goes a long way towards letting us know what we've done and what we can do, and more so, what we should do better to retain control of what we invent.