Internet Upstart’s Challenge is Finding Quality Employees

For upstart Internet directory player 555-1212.com, one company showcased at the annual Local Online Commerce Conference here, the biggest challenge remains finding quality employees.

The San Francisco-based company, which operates a yellow-pages-like Internet directory, closed a $3 million round of private funding in January. The company started with three employees in January 1998 and currently has 12 employees.

"Most come from networking rather than head-hunters," says Martin Ogawa, vice president of marketing for 555-1212.com. Engineers and business development employees are in big demand, he says.

Tasks such as the company's future site redesign will be outsourced to Web designer and new media strategy company Net Kitchen, also in San Francisco.

The directory company's revenue model is centered around licensing its content. The business-to-employee (B2E) market interests 555-1212.com the most, says Ogawa.

Until now, 555-1212.com has licensed most of its content from Bellevue, Wash.-based InfoSpace.com, an information infrastructure services company that provides commerce and communication to Web sites, merchants and wireless devices.

The company intends to move away from that relationship, although Ogawa will not name 555-1212.com's new licensing partner.

Ogawa says 555-1212.com will remove from its Web site the name of any company or person asking to be removed. The company also does not disclose unlisted phone numbers, he says.

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