Business Model

Never mind the pie-in-the-sky business plans. Forget about the ambitions to change the world. It was all about financial discipline and making money at a conference for start-ups in San Francisco this week. Instead of cool-looking mousetraps, start-ups that drew the most attention at TechCrunch50 were focused on pragmatic solutions such as websites that save consumers money on concert tickets or help them keep track of expenses. "The companies this year are extremely focused on building businesses -- not just features, not just products, but businesses," said Jason Calacanis, a conference organizer and the founder of Mahalo, a Santa Monica search engine.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has a message for the players' association: The system is broken and needs to be fixed. That was the most telling theme to come out of Stern's 30-minute session with reporters Saturday, an annual briefing dominated by questions about the looming owners' lockout. Stern said earlier this season that owners were projecting losses of about $350 million, and though he didn't provide updated figures Saturday, the losses were palpable, he said. "The numbers are real, the losses are real, and the need from our perspective for a different business model, that's what's governing our decision," Stern said.

Re "We wish . . . ," editorial, Jan. 1 The two wishes for a la carte cable TV and a cheap, easy way to get video from the Internet are related. Based on current and anticipated technology, in the near future all telecommunications will be delivered by the Internet. The delivery service will be split off from content providers. Watching any TV program, originating anywhere in the world, in real-time or time-shifted, will be as simple as surfing the Web. One wish you left off your list but have supported in the past is a redistricting method for state legislative and congressional districts that would eliminate gerrymandering and make as many districts as possible competitive.

I hope I'm not the only one that noticed the irony in your headlines: June 16, the University of California wants to train new physicians in the ways of HMOs ("New Doctors Need HMO Training, Panel Says"); June 17, the state wants to reform these same HMOs ("Legislators Launch HMO Reform Efforts"); and a physician sues a managed-care medical group for wrongful termination ("Doctor's Suit Over Firing to Be Test of Law"). I suggest that the art and science of medicine will change more slowly than the business of medicine.

Lycos Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. on Tuesday announced separate deals designed to improve their competitive positions in the Internet portal business. Lycos acquired WhoWhere Inc., which provides a Web white pages, free e-mail and Web site hosting, for $133 million in stock. Meanwhile, competitor Netscape announced a three-year deal in which Citibank will become the primary personal finance provider on its Netcenter Web portal.

The booming market of electronic commerce, both in retail and business-to-business, will face a raft of public policy, technological and marketing challenges as it continues to mature next year. Perhaps the first development in e-commerce in 2000 will be the folding or consolidating of marginal companies that didn't quite draw the traffic or sales they expected during the holidays and have run out of venture capital. ShopNow.com last week announced it has acquired WebCentric Inc.

Are corporate executives with multimillion-dollar salaries stealing from their low- to mid-income workers ("Rise of the Corporate Plutocrats," by Vince Beiser, Oct. 17)? Let's do the math. If the salary of Citigroup's Robert Willumstad was reduced from $30 million to a more reasonable $3 million per year, that would free up $27 million to pay 5,400 of the company's lowest-paid workers an additional $5,000 per year. If Citigroup's retired CEO Sanford Weill's salary had been reduced from $98 million to $5 million, the $93 million saved could have paid 18,600 custodians, bank tellers and administrative assistants an additional $5,000 per year each.

It appears the historic blade sign hanging in front of the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena will survive a safety scare that arose this month, but preservationists and city officials are worried about more than just the sign. They are concerned their efforts to revitalize the moribund 87-year-old theater may crumble like the exterior of the building, which is held together in places by wire mesh. Last week, representatives of leaseholder Landmark Theatres said they have decided to repair the sign and are in the process of hiring a contractor.

I got into the flower business selling bouquets at the corner of Pico and Normandie in 1984, just before I graduated from high school. From there, I got into pumpkin patches and Christmas tree lots. I opened my own store, Floral and Hardy, in 1985 in Beverly Hills, where I still have a floral design studio catering mostly to Hollywood celebrities.

Speaking to 200 public relations executives recently, Dow Jones News Service reporter Tony Palazzo told how he was tired of hearing company after company claim that it was about to "revolutionize" the Internet. Palazzo then said that he was quitting to join a "dot-com," one that would "revolutionize" the Internet. That revolution is scheduled to start today when Palazzo's new employer, Web portal Business.com, launches its site. Santa Monica-based Business.