Net Flix

 

Tutor.com, New York City
What it does: Helps students find online or in-person tutoring in 400 subjects.
Founder: CEO George Cigale, previously vice-president of the Princeton Review.
How it makes money: Independent tutors charge students fees averaging $30 an hour; the company takes 10% of each transaction plus $1.
What makes it "real": The company struck partnerships with brands like the Princeton Review and Scholastic Inc. to attract students and tutors. By early 2001, with no advertising, Tutor.com had registered 25,000 tutors and averaged 20,000 tutoring transactions a month. The company plans to expand its reach by offering real-time homework help, services for adult learners, and licensing deals for school districts.
Investment: $16 million in venture capital in 1999 and 2000; projecting another $15-million round late in 2001.
Revenues: Less than $100,000 for 2000; shooting for $5 million in 2001 as new partnerships and expanded services take effect.
Profitability ETA: Fourth quarter of 2001.
Number of employees: 30.
Why the jury's still out: No serious revenues for 2000.

MrSwap.com, San Francisco
What it does: Gives consumers a forum for swapping used CDs, DVDs, and video games.
Founders: Patrick Ford, a marketing veteran who worked at Microsoft and several Internet companies; Robert Kohler, a lawyer and veteran company founder.
How it makes money: By charging swap recipients a "shipping and handling" fee for each transaction ($2.99 per CD, $4.99 per DVD, and so forth). The company also sells new merchandise for swappers who can't find the used items they're looking for.
What makes it "real": Among numerous Web-based swapping sites, MrSwap has a model that works. Its customers earn "SwapPoints" for the items they list, which they in turn use to "buy" the items they desire. Ford and Kohler have outsourced almost everything, including the fulfillment of the shipping and postage materials customers use to send items to one another.
Investment: $750,000 in seed financing; $3.4 million in venture capital.
Revenues: Under $1 million in 2000.
Profitability ETA: November 2001.
Number of employees: 15.
Why the jury's still out: The swap concept has a catch-22: In order for the swapping mechanism to work, the company has to attract a critical mass of users. But to attract those users, it needs to have sufficient swappable merchandise.

With no fanfare and little venture money, the companies profiled here are delivering real stuff to paying customers and making a buck in the process. There may not be any "new rules," but there are rules, and we suspect every one of them will look familiar.

DVD Empire: The Bootstrapper
SitStay.com: The Mom-and-Pop
Shoebuy.com: The Scorekeepers
Accuship.com: The Traditionalist
Fashionmall.com: The Conservative
Healthcommunities.com: The Underwriter

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