About our new CEO, via RB 
From Atlanta Business Chronicle Nov. 2001:
Computer shop upgrades its future
Mary Jane Credeur Staff Writer
A year ago, computer equipment upgrade shop TradeUps Inc. was $2 million in debt and riding the downward spiral that forced its incubator, eHatchery LLC, out of business this year.
Today the 2-year-old company has a new CEO, an infusion of $5.6 million in venture capital and a new business plan that caters to big-money computer manufacturers like Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) to take old equipment out of a saturated personal computer market.
"I adored the concept the very first time I saw it, but the company had some weaknesses," said Timothy Minard, a Wisconsin native who made millions on an earlier start-up and now backs a venture firm called Minard Ventures. "The burn rate was too high, and there wasn't a clear enough focus."
Minard was named CEO of TradeUps early this year, and immediately redrafted the company's business plan to veer away from individual consumers and go after major manufacturers who have a financial incentive to replace old equipment with newer versions.
The new CEO invested $500,000 of his own cash and helped the company raise its $5.6 million series B extension round, which closed in mid-November, bringing the company's lifetime funding to $8 million. Investors include Cordova Intellimedia Ventures, which led the round, Noro-Moseley Partners, Total Technology Ventures, Atlanta Technology Angels and Imlay Investments Inc.
TradeUps matches computer manufacturers with companies that recondition used equipment and redistribute it to schools, youth organizations, charities and others. TradeUps gets a contract fee ranging from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars for each sizable transaction.
An estimated 113 million personal computers were sold in 2000, according to research by The Gartner Group Inc. (NYSE: IT), possibly displacing tens of millions of outdated PCs each year.
"Companies do what we do, and they store [old] equipment in a warehouse until it builds up, then they do a big sweep and get rid of it," said Frances O'Brien, who tracks computer obsolescence for Gartner.
So TradeUps acts as a go-between to find companies or organizations with a large number of used computers and match them with firms that refurbish or resell. The value of the traded-in goods goes toward the purchase of new equipment, which attracts manufacturers because it provides an incentive to consumers to buy the latest equipment. Earned credit usually runs in the 10 percent range of the value of the old computer.
"People are much more willing to buy a new computer if they can get $100 or $150 for the old one," said Steve Nussrallah, a principal with Noro-Moseley who oversaw the deal and now sits on the TradeUps board.
There are several dozen Web-based companies across the nation that take trade-in computer equipment and apply the value toward new goods, but few, if any, have formal support from the major manufacturers. In addition to IBM and Dell, TradeUps has agreements in place with Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HWP) and Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK), which makes digital cameras, printers and scanners.
Frank Dalton, managing director of Cordova, said TradeUps' service is a way for manufacturers to gain market share by "buying up" old equipment made by their competitors and applying the value to machines they make.
TradeUps wasn't always so focused. The company was founded in 1999 by former Innotrac Corp. vice president Joel Holtzman as a marketplace for individual consumers who wanted to get rid of old electronics, but that revenue model didn't work well, investors said.
The company was housed initially in the eHatchery high-tech incubator at Southern Dairies in Midtown.
After dramatically cutting its staff and shifting to a technology consulting model early this year, eHatchery shuttered its windows around the same time Minard Ventures bought out eHatchery's stake in TradeUps.
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From Atlanta Business Chronicle Nov. 2001:
Computer shop upgrades its future
Mary Jane Credeur Staff Writer
A year ago, computer equipment upgrade shop TradeUps Inc. was $2 million in debt and riding the downward spiral that forced its incubator, eHatchery LLC, out of business this year.
Today the 2-year-old company has a new CEO, an infusion of $5.6 million in venture capital and a new business plan that caters to big-money computer manufacturers like Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) to take old equipment out of a saturated personal computer market.
"I adored the concept the very first time I saw it, but the company had some weaknesses," said Timothy Minard, a Wisconsin native who made millions on an earlier start-up and now backs a venture firm called Minard Ventures. "The burn rate was too high, and there wasn't a clear enough focus."
Minard was named CEO of TradeUps early this year, and immediately redrafted the company's business plan to veer away from individual consumers and go after major manufacturers who have a financial incentive to replace old equipment with newer versions.
The new CEO invested $500,000 of his own cash and helped the company raise its $5.6 million series B extension round, which closed in mid-November, bringing the company's lifetime funding to $8 million. Investors include Cordova Intellimedia Ventures, which led the round, Noro-Moseley Partners, Total Technology Ventures, Atlanta Technology Angels and Imlay Investments Inc.
TradeUps matches computer manufacturers with companies that recondition used equipment and redistribute it to schools, youth organizations, charities and others. TradeUps gets a contract fee ranging from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars for each sizable transaction.
An estimated 113 million personal computers were sold in 2000, according to research by The Gartner Group Inc. (NYSE: IT), possibly displacing tens of millions of outdated PCs each year.
"Companies do what we do, and they store [old] equipment in a warehouse until it builds up, then they do a big sweep and get rid of it," said Frances O'Brien, who tracks computer obsolescence for Gartner.
So TradeUps acts as a go-between to find companies or organizations with a large number of used computers and match them with firms that refurbish or resell. The value of the traded-in goods goes toward the purchase of new equipment, which attracts manufacturers because it provides an incentive to consumers to buy the latest equipment. Earned credit usually runs in the 10 percent range of the value of the old computer.
"People are much more willing to buy a new computer if they can get $100 or $150 for the old one," said Steve Nussrallah, a principal with Noro-Moseley who oversaw the deal and now sits on the TradeUps board.
There are several dozen Web-based companies across the nation that take trade-in computer equipment and apply the value toward new goods, but few, if any, have formal support from the major manufacturers. In addition to IBM and Dell, TradeUps has agreements in place with Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HWP) and Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK), which makes digital cameras, printers and scanners.
Frank Dalton, managing director of Cordova, said TradeUps' service is a way for manufacturers to gain market share by "buying up" old equipment made by their competitors and applying the value to machines they make.
TradeUps wasn't always so focused. The company was founded in 1999 by former Innotrac Corp. vice president Joel Holtzman as a marketplace for individual consumers who wanted to get rid of old electronics, but that revenue model didn't work well, investors said.
The company was housed initially in the eHatchery high-tech incubator at Southern Dairies in Midtown.
After dramatically cutting its staff and shifting to a technology consulting model early this year, eHatchery shuttered its windows around the same time Minard Ventures bought out eHatchery's stake in TradeUps.
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