April 27, 2000

Ten Fast Facts

jacknabbit.com WHO: A privately held Internet application service provider founded last year by Richard Schulenberg. WHAT: Provides real-time, online appointment and scheduling services for businesses. WHERE: Issaquah

Fast Fact #1: jacknabbit is negotiating with a well-known entertainer to become its spokesperson.

Comment: The company expects to sign a contract next month. Until then, jacknabbit is keeping the spokesperson's identity secret, says Warren Aut, president and chief operating officer. "We haven't put the big marketing push on yet," he says. "That big push is coming with our advertising campaign that starts in a month."

Fast Fact #2: Aut is a retired U.S. Navy admiral.

Warren Aut, COO/President of jacknabbit.com.

Comment: As Commander for Fleet Air Mediterranean, he was responsible for all U.S. air operations in that region, overseeing 20,000 sailors and "I don't know how many ships." As Field Command of the Defense Nuclear Agency in New Mexico, he oversaw the logistics for "all nuclear weapons in the free world."

Fast Fact #3: Schulenberg initially recruited Aut to serve on the board of directors.

Comment: Schulenberg, who is CEO, later asked Aut to also take over as president and COO. Aut and Schulenberg, an aerospace engineer and entrepreneur, already had crossed paths several times. After retiring from the Navy, Aut made a name for himself through various private endeavors such as running a financial services company and giving speeches comparing the leadership qualities required in the military and business. He says the key to success in both endeavors is having authority, responsibility and accountability. "You can run any organization if you have that," says Aut.

Fast Fact #4: jacknabbit has jumped from eight employees to 50 employees in the last four months.

Comment: Workers currently are housed in four different buildings spread around Issaquah, but Aut is shopping for a 30,000-40,000-square-foot space in that city to "get everybody working under one roof." Well, not everybody. Aut also is deploying sales managers in 10 cities across the country and recently sent the vice president for business development to Europe, where jacknabbit hopes to launch international operations in about six months.

Fast Fact #5: jacknabbit sprang from a company called Appointime Inc.

Comment: Schulenberg, who was running an Internet service provider, founded that company after one of his client's, an optometrist, asked him to add a scheduling application to his Web site so patients could make appointments online. Several months later, Schulenberg's team of developers produced what they believe to be the first real-time, online scheduling software. Along the way, Schulenberg hired David Lemley Design to rebrand the company and jacknabbit.com was born.

Fast Fact #6: jacknabbit has identified 2 million businesses that could benefit from real-time scheduling.

Comment: "Somebody's going to [offer] it and we are going to be that somebody who leads the way because we started before everybody else and we've got this super technology," says Aut. Until now, most online scheduling has consisted of exchanging e-mails, which doesn't allow customers to choose from all the times available at any given instant. The only real-time solutions currently in use are industry specific -- such as airline reservations -- or are intended for internal use such as Microsoft's Outlook, says Aut. jacknabbit's proprietary software is suitable for business-to-consumer and business-to-business use and can be customized to fit everything from barbershops to doctor's offices.

Fast Fact #7: jacknabbit hopes to handle 2 billion transactions per year by 2003.

Comment: That would push jacknabbit revenues near the $1 billion mark since businesses pay 50 cents per transaction, although the fee decreases when the volume exceeds 200 transactions per month. The company went live with its application in December. Starting with 10 customers, jacknabbit has fine-tuned its operations while growing slowly. Once the advertising campaign kicks in, it will be full steam ahead, says Aut, who hopes to build volume through partnerships. For instance, he'd love to cut a deal with an automobile manufacturer to use jacknabbit to schedule service appointments in all of its dealerships.

Fast Fact #8: Businesses don't need a Web site to use jacknabbit's services.

Comment: All they need is a computer with a browser. jacknabbit will provide an Internet address that is a direct link to jacknabbit's Web site, where customers type in a business's jacknabbit address and are ready to make an appointment. For businesses that have Web sites, customers click on jacknabbit icons that appear on their home pages. Customers will think they're still on the business's site, but their appointments actually will be processed by jacknabbit's servers. Customers will receive instant confirmations and reminders on the day before their appointments.

Fast Fact #9: jacknabbit also functions as a directory.

Comments: Customers who don't know a business's Web address or don't have a specific business in mind can log onto jacknabbit's Web site. After requesting a particular service in a particular city, the customer can choose from a list of jacknabbit clients. Aut says jacknabbit hopes to further expand the opportunities for customers to click for appointments by placing its icon next to clients listed in other directories.

Fast Fact #10: jacknabbit plans to go public later this year.

Comment: Originally self-funded, the company later raised $4 million from angel investors and is in the processing of selling another $5 million in preferred stock. With an IPO looming on the horizon, Aut recently returned from road show meetings with analysts. His message? "Put your money in a junior Microsoft called jacknabbit.com."

Previous columns:

• Ten Fast Facts, 04-20-2000
• Ten Fast Facts, 04-13-2000
• Ten Fast Facts, 04-06-2000
• Ten Fast Facts, 03-30-2000
• Ten Fast Facts, 03-23-2000
• Ten Fast Facts, 02-24-2000
• Ten Fast Facts, 02-10-2000
• Ten Fast Facts, 02-03-2000