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June 8, 2000

Ten Fast Facts

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Vista.com

WHO: A privately held e-business service provider founded last year by John Wall.

WHAT: Generates full-service Web sites for small-business owners.

WHERE: Redmond.

Fast Fact #1: Vista.com claims to be "turning on America."

Comment: Well, maybe not the entire nation. And certainly not in a naughty way. But Vista.com is producing Web sites for every registered small business in the country -- all 8.6 million of them. The individualized sample sites are intended to erase any Internet anxieties and coax small-business owners to take the e-commerce plunge.

Fast Fact #2: Vista.com recently rolled out Web sites for each of Washington's 176,000 registered small businesses in a two-hour blitz.

Comment: Business owners can instantly check out their site by simply entering the business's phone number followed by "dot Vista dot com" into a browser. If they like what they see, they can become subscribers and Vista.com will automatically put their site online using its patented e-generator technology. "It takes about eight seconds to do it," says Wall.

Fast Fact #3: Vista.com followed its Washington state blitz with a similar rollout of sample sites in the other Washington -- D.C.

Comment: "We have a Washington on each coast and over the summer we're going to connect the dots culminating in the fall with e-business [sites] for all 8.6 million small business," says Wall.

Fast Fact #4: Vista.com has created sophisticated templates for 86 different business categories.

Comment: They range from real estate to retail to health care. The templates contain primarily dummy copy. However, once business owners subscribe to Vista.com, they can begin customizing the template, fleshing out the sample site with their own content and choosing from numerous designs, colors and features.

Fast Fact #5: Each site's template provides all the applications and special features necessary to conduct e-business in that particular category.

Comment: "Actually, it's a lot richer than a template," says Wall. Applications include scheduling, e-commerce and inventory control. Special features range from weather to maps to chat rooms. For instance, the Lucky 7 Saloon, which is just down the street from Vista.com headquarters, conducts polls on its site. When Wall logged on to show a reporter the site, the question of the day was, "Should we continue the bikini contests?"

Fast Fact #6: Vista.com's servers host the sites, but business owners manage the sites themselves.

Comment: Managing the site requires no more technical skill than using a word processor, says Wall. "[They] don't need to know HTML or anything like that."

Fast Fact #7: Vista.com is the second company founded by Wall.

Comment: Eighteen years ago, he launched Wall Data. Working alone from his home office in Phoenix, he built Wall Data into a $140 million company with 900 employees. As the company's CEO and founder, he invented products that simplified the connectivity of mainframe computers in large systems. Wall took the company public and is no longer involved.

Fast Fact #8: Wall's goal at Vista.com is to "level the playing field."

Comment: When it comes to e-business, Fortune 500 companies are setting such high standards for design, content and performance that small businesses don't have the time, money or expertise to compete. However, by offering a one-stop solution, developing user-friendly technology and spreading the bill for state-of-the-art technology over thousands -- perhaps millions -- of small businesses, Vista.com hopes to lower those barriers.

Fast Fact #9: Vista.com charges $49.95 per month.

Comment: Businesses that commit to 12 months can take advantage of a $12.95 introductory offer. Although sample sites are being rolled out state by state, businesses don't have to wait to sign up. So far, Vista.com has more than 3,000 members nationwide.

Fast Fact #10: Vista.com has formed several partnerships.

Comments: Getty Images supplies stock photos, Stamps.com provides postage and Automatic Data Processing offers assistance with internal payroll and employee management. Wall is the company's primary investor. He has no immediate plans for an IPO.



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