INVESTING IN INTERNET STOCKS by Leo Gough

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Lrd, Pages: 254,

Well, a lot of people want to make money in the Internet gold rush but don't know where to dig, so to speak. Here are 10 chaps who are willing to impart a little of what they know to get you started. Good luck!





ELECTRONIC commerce seems to be the buzzword among modern young
professionals who are prospecting for wealth in the rich mines of the
Internet. As the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated
Quotation (Nasdaq), the US technology stocks indicator, has shown, these
business gold mines can sometimes be landmines for the unsuspecting
entrepreneur.
Investing in Internet Stocks - the Global Gold Rush in the New Economy
consists of interviews with 10 veterans of this increasingly popular money
game. In the parlance of this particular Net zone, these boardroom-
hardened, Internet-savvy professionals are known as VCs or venture
capitalists.
Going by the news reports in business magazines and newspapers
worldwide, VCs are taking the wired world by storm. Young people are
earning their first millions even before they touch 30.
If you are a neophyte in this field, still groping for answers which
have so far eluded you, this book may just be the panacea to some of your
temporal problems.
Between its covers, lie the opinions and sure-fire answers of people who
have already gone through the mill and earned their spurs in the virtual
world.
For some of us Asians, the subject of VCs prowling in the Internet world
is as foreign as finding the cure for cancer among the plants in the
deepest part of the Amazon jungle. For this, writer Gough has managed to
interview someone whom all Malaysians can identify with. This successful
individual, Hanson Cheah, is one of `our boys' who is now ensconced,
rather successfully I must add, in the former British colony of Hong Kong.
Cheah runs AsiaTech Ventures, an organisation which has 42 firms in its
portfolio. AsiaTech manages US$ 250 million (RM950 million) worth of
funds. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated Cheah, who moved
to Hong Kong a few years ago to seek his fortune, says: `We went from zero
funds to US$ 18.5 million - today, we're managing US$ 250 million - and
from two people working out of our bedrooms to 42 people spread across
Asia as well as in the United States; that's one employee per investee.'
Not bad for one of our very own boys.
If this book has only one message to convey, it is this: Awareness ...
awareness of the massive nuggets of e-commerce potential which lie
unexploited beneath the landscape of the Internet.
Consider another successful tale, that of Ilyas Khan, a British-born
investor who co-founded techpacific.com. Khan relates his story like a
tale from the Arabian Nights. He says: `My professional career started in
1984 with Schroders, and I've been an investment banker, principally, a
corporate financier, for virtually all of my career until autumn 1998. It
was on Friday, Nov 17, 1998, that I and my partner, Johnny Chan, finally
decided to set up techpacific.com having planned it since March 1998.'
On the question, from an investment point of view, which region in the
world now offers the best opportunity, says Khan, `By way of definition,
if you're just looking at opportunity and you're not risk-weighting it,
there's no doubt that it's Asia.'
This book opens the window very wide to reveal the tremendous potential
and the short-comings inherent in Asia. Listening to comments made with
much candour, perhaps for the first time for many, it is almost with a
sense of relief that one knows the truth is finally out and we now know
where to go.
In illustrating an important point, Khan stresses, `In England, we're
trying to set up something called TechAtlantic, and you know the first
thing English people say is, "How am I going to pay the mortgage? How long
is my lunch break? I can't work after 7pm." Moan, moan, moan! Here in Hong
Kong, our people are working flat out. These are rather extreme examples,
but they highlight my point.'
In a nutshell, Investing in Internet Stocks is a gem. Read it if you are
aspiring to be a VC. Read it even if you don't intend to be one. Gaining
an awareness of the e-commerce world through the eyes of 10 people who
have learned the ropes is akin to taking the 10 most valuable lessons on
Internet business.
The wisdom of its speakers is clear. The truisms are succinct and easily
digestible. If your career plans are now germinating in the rich field of
information technology and you hope to move to richer and greener pastures
in the near future, this book will go a long way in helping you make a
couple of right moves. Who knows, it may even make you rich!