Tom Taulli

When I traveled to Europe several months ago, there was lots of excitement for Internet ventures. However, there was a common complaint: inadequate infrastructure. The fact is that the telecom infrastructure in Europe has been heavily regulated. While this is lessening, it will take some time to catch-up to the U.S., which has been undergoing […]

GetThere was recently known as GetThere.com. Of course, investors don’t like .com’s. So it appears to be a smart move to make the name change. Although, in the case of GetThere, the change seems warranted. The company is not a consumer play; rather, it focuses mostly on the corporate market. GetThere develops technology to allow […]

Even with a wayward Nasdaq, the IPO market posted impressive numbers last week. There were 28 IPOs, raising about $2.5 billion. Actually, the big winners were biotechs. As for high-tech, it was a rough week. But this may present opportunities for investors. An interesting play is EXE Technologies . For whatever reason, this company has […]

What looks hot for the IPO market this week? Reply: Take a look at ServiceWare. The company is a leader in e-service technology. They have a suite of products that help companies maintain complex and huge customer service databases – especially focused on information technology. Kind of like artificial intelligence, ServiceWare technology makes databases “smart”; […]

Typically, August is a slow period in the IPO market, as investment bankers go on vacation. But the IPO market has been surging lately – even with a falling Nasdaq. In fact, August has 80 deals planned. But if Nasdaq continues to have problems, the IPO market will likely slow considerably. However, there are strong […]

In a way, the history of Activision has been like a rough-and-tumble video game. The company was an early pioneer in gaming, founded in 1979. Activision developed games for such platforms as Atari (yep, when I was a kid, I spent some time playing these games). However, by the early 1990s, the company was mired […]

It’s something you always hear from executives at Bulletin Board companies: “We’ll be listed on Nasdaq within the next six months.” Of course, in most instances, it doesn’t happen. The universe of a Bulletin Board company is typically very nightmarish. But some can be saved. Look at Aperian . You see, it got approval for […]

When most Web sites were static brochures, two brothers had a better vision of the Web – that is, a vision of the Web that is dynamic. The brothers were J.J. Allaire and Jeremy Allaire. They developed the first Web application sever for Windows NT called ColdFusion. Their initial investment was $18,000. It was money […]

The CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, has built an empire by focusing on industry-leading companies. The same principle can be applied to stock picking. Recently, Nokia – which is the #1 worldwide phone maker – has been selling at a much cheaper valuation. And, no doubt, Nokia will continue to be #1 for some […]

You know the feeling. You call a company to make a simple transaction and you are put on hold for an hour. Well, there is a solution: voice recognition. A leader in the field is SpeechWorks. On July 31, 2000, the price range was $17-$19 for 4.75 million shares. The lead underwriter was Chase Hambrecht […]

It’s not a name that rolls off your lips, but KLA-Tencor has been riding the wave of the semiconductor boom. It seems that the demand for semiconductors is endless. However, in order to meet the demand, there is a desperate need for products that make semiconductor production faster, more efficient and less prone to defects. […]

In the past two weeks, the Nasdaq has been in ill-health. Last Friday, the market plunged 179 points (4.66%). Despite this, the IPO market was seemingly in another universe – especially the fiber optic issues. The most incredible was Corvis . Apparently, the company has the next-generation router, which will make the existing fiber network […]