Auren Hoffman's Summation Push for the week of August 31, 1998

You can visit my thoughts and reflections at http://www.summation.net or you can be lazy and wait for these tidbits to be sent right to your in box (subscribe and unsubscribe information is at the end of this e-mail).

This issue:
* Do a Credit Check on Yourself
* Rumor: College students running political Internet campaigns
* Spreading Political Rumors Through the Internet
* SEC Start-Up Accounting Rules Are Not What You Expect
* Summation Push Picks Links
* Hoffman Spam Index

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Do a Credit Check on Yourself
By Auren Hoffman

The most common form of a background check is a credit report. Even more common than reference checks, credit reports have become popular among large companies, start-ups, government agencies, and many other employers.

Even one small blemish on your report could cause a company to rescind an offer. More common, however, is that a company will use any bad marks on the report as a negotiating tool to offer you less compensation.

My employer, BridgePath.com, suggests that you look over your credit record now -- maybe long before you are searching for a job, so that you will have time to correct any mistakes on the report. At the very least you will know what is on the report so you can explain it to potential employers.

Many services will send you a copy of your credit report for free or for a small fee. For more information, please check out the following links:

* http://www.equifax.com/
* http://pages.prodigy.com/ID/vcr/vcr.html
* http://www.experian.com/

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Rumor: College students running political Internet campaigns

Rumor is that college political students are becoming the leaders of the new campaign medium -- the Internet. Major GOP strategists tell me that they are increasingly looking to College Republicans to learn how to take advantage of the net.

One Democrat pollster told me that "all three of my campaigns have Internet campaigns. One is run by a 19 year old and two are run by 22 year olds! I must be in the wrong business."

(all rumors and insights sent to auren@summation.net will be kept confidential)

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Spreading Political Rumors Through the Internet

We've talked a bunch about Internet campaigning in Summation. Last month, the New York Times reported the malicious side of Internet campaigns. The article states "The Internet's capacity as a playground for pranks is nurturing dirty tricks."

It goes on to describe an e-mail sent to 150 top GOP officials in Alabama regarding Jim Bennett, the Republican incumbent running for secretary of state. The NYT reports "The message presented a phony news story that said Bennett had switched back to the Democratic Party. Bennett, like more than 50 officeholders in the state, switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1996, and the move had been an issue in the election."

Bennett still went on to win the primary but was understandably upset about the electronic slander.

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SEC Start-Up Accounting Rules Are Not What You Expect

Those of us in start-ups are quite familiar with the 10 to 1 stock options theory. The theory insists that you can offer stock options to employees at one-tenth the price you offer it to investors.

The SEC doesn't think so, says a source at PricewaterhouseCoopers. For very young companies, the ratio should be more like 8 to 1, but companies with serious investment and a more proven business model should be closer to 5 to 1. And it scales as the company grows.

For companies who are still following the 10 to 1 rule, you may have lots of SEC paperwork if you go public.

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THIS WEEK'S SUMMATION PUSH PICK LINKS:

* Equifax - credit report house.
* Protect Your Credit -- tips and grievance suggestions.
* Internet Stocks -- insight from Robertson Stephens analyst Keith Benjamin.
* Hoffman Reading List (http://www.summation.net/reading.html)
* The Hoffman Spam Index (http://www.summation.net/spam.html)

NOTE: Auren Hoffman works for BridgePath.com but the opinions expressed herein are solely those of Mr. Hoffman.

SUMMATION