My obsession is very strange, is it not? I guess its just something special
about the lead generating companies that I could not resist.

Payam, if I ever would agreed to the spam e-mails your PR firm was sending
to bloggers and have an interview with you, the question about lawsuit would
have been one of the first I would ask.

Thank you for clarifying about the defendants in the above case. I will
update the post to include the information you have provided.

I am not “reporting” I am just asking questions. Trying to get the
conversation going if you wish.

No matter who defendants are now, shareholders got screwed. I can't stop
myself from thinking about this lawsuit everytime I come yet across another
interview where you go on blowing smoke about the Autoweb and how sucessul
the IPO deal was.

I also think it is a shame that Reply.com hand taken a course to discredit
CPM and CPC models of advertising. Actually I find it hypocritical sine
according to Brian Bowman Reply spends millions of dollars in CPC
advertising:

http://blog.reply.com/?p=61

As strange as this may sound, I read Reply Blog regularly. In fact I even tried to comment once or twice, but my comments were immediately removed just because they were some what critical.

Having a blog is a way to have a dialog even with those who may not like your product.

I am an affiliate marketer and lead generation is not a new idea to me. However there are many questions I have about companies like Reply.

I am glad you see Autoweb as a success story. I can understand that. I just expressed my questions and am honored you picked up on the conversation. By the way, your comments are welcomed on my blog.

You are more than welcome to read my blog post on the idea of the lead marketplace and lead exchange. Unlike your comment above I simply try to politely communicate my perspective and refrain from using derogatory terms in any of my posts or comments. I attempt to communicate the fact that the current form of CPC marketing available through Google is rather complicated and the infrastructure cost is too expensive for small advertisers who are interested to make online marketing a meaningful part of their overall marketing program. For more please see: http://blog.reply.com/?p=4

Regarding Autoweb I should say that you are right, the company’s stock price did go down tremendously post IPO. Note that I was the CEO until 2 months prior to the IPO and given my frustration with the new management team that was installed by the VC’s and the direction they chose to take the company I decided to resign from the board shortly post the initial public offering. Consider that I co-founded Autoweb at the age of 24 and helped take it form concept to a significant business in less than 4 years and saw its market cap reach $1.2 billion. I will always see that as a personal success story. Sadly though the market is littered with all kinds of businesses that never reach their original dreams. Isn’t that part of entrepreneurship? Isn’t that part of Venture Capitalism? Isn’t that why we are all encouraged to have balanced portfolios? Of course if every company would always go up to the right there would be no risk associated with capital markets…wouldn’t that be a beautiful world?

Always best,

Payam Zamani

My obsession is very strange, is it not? I guess its just something special about the lead generating companies that I could not resist.

Payam, if I ever would agreed to the spam e-mails your PR firm was sending to bloggers and have an interview with you, the question about lawsuit would have been one of the first I would ask.

Thank you for clarifying about the defendants in the above case. I will update the post to include the information you have provided.

I am not “reporting” I am just asking questions. Trying to get the conversation going if you wish.

No matter who defendants are now, shareholders got screwed. I can't stop myself from thinking about this lawsuit everytime I come yet across another interview where you go on blowing smoke about the Autoweb and how sucessul the IPO deal was.

I also think it is a shame that Reply.com hand taken a course to discredit CPM and CPC models of advertising. Actually I find it hypocritical sine according to Brian Bowman Reply spends millions of dollars in CPC advertising:

http://blog.reply.com/?p=61

I don't really understand your obsession with my past or Reply!'s but I would much appreciate if you would do more thorough reporting when you choose to embark on new subjects.

All individuals listed on the above mentioned lawsuit were dropped from the case in 2001. This has been a suit focused on the underwriters who affected all shareholders including the names that you have mentioned in this posting.

Additionally you need to know that 90%+ of internet companies that went public in 1998-2000 time frame ended up with this identical lawsuit.

You know where to reach me and should always feel comfortable to call me when seeking facts.

Best regards,

Payam Zamani