The Digital Estate

"A new wind is blowing, and it's from East to West. The result is the marriage of technology to the content in the interactive, global environment of the Internet's World Wide Web."

"The Digital Estate companies understand that while any company in the Digital Estate is de facto a content provider, it is context, not content, that is king."

"Launch-and-learn strategy is so typical of Digital Estate companies and so atypical of established businesses that it gives the new-thinking companies a constant edge."

"Companies have a better change of success in the Net environment when they assume as many of the characteristics of the medium as they can."

"Thinking small has a number of advantages in the Digital Estate. At the company level, the distributive power of the Net makes it possible for a company to start out small?a one-person home office?and grow phenomenally. "

"In the Digital Estate, it is important to recognize the extent to which the audience ultimately defines and drives content."

"No matter how large or small the company, the global barriers that have traditionally limited multinational transactions no longer apply, which may not come naturally for a small company used to doing business only with its geographical community."

"Pushing doesn't work in the Digital Estate."

"Just as Nordstrom's gained its reputation for the ultimate in value-added service, making the shopping experience feel good, leaders in the Digital Estate are creating similar relationship models in cyberspace."

"The Net provides great opportunities for established companies to create new brands, which may be broader and stronger than in the traditional business environment."

"The consumer comes after the message rather than the message tracking down the consumer."

"The increase in user control increases their sense of responsibility and their desire to contribute."

"On the Net, however, not only are the words important, but also the associations surrounding the words. Context is the combination of all of these factors: time, place, relevant content, and technology."

"To Digital Estate companies, it is not a matter of whether, but how fast, virtual commerce will take off."

"At Ground Zero, the Digital Estate companies act as if a nuclear bomb has gone off and all the business activities are reset to zero, which is where they all recently started anyway."

"It is difficult for Internet startup companies to scale, so they often seek partnerships with larger companies with stronger infrastructures. Larger companies can seek opportunities in the partnerships."

"Partnering, Staying Fast, All Eyes on the Ball, Staying Plugged In"

"No matter how carefully companies plan, surprises and glitches are inevitable, mainly because there are so few rules or standards to go by."

"The evolving rules of conduct are particularly important because the digital environment of the Net makes it impossible to separate business and consumer "real estate.""

"Nowhere has technological development been so rapid as on the Net, since never before has so much processing power been in the hands of so many."