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Students start new financial web site

If history repeats itself, three University students may be looking at a very prosperous future. Fourth-year Commerce student Brian Woodall, fourth-year College student Russ Petrin and fourth-year Commerce student Jeremy Somers founded a new financial Web site called TheBullseye.com.

Commerce Prof. Richard DeMong said TheBullseye.com, first posted in March 1999, has history on its side, referring to the phenomenal success of RagingBull.com, another financial Web site started by former University students.

"They've got precedence," DeMong said.

Two former students, Bill Martin and Rusty Szurek, started a site called RagingBull.com in August 1997.

Woodall said TheBullseye.com is dedicated to providing accurate information for financial decisions.

"We focus on pertinent issues in U.S. and international markets, as well as the technology sector," he said. "Our research reports feature provides investors with the fundamental and technical information they need on the market and on companies in which they may be considering making an investment."

He added that TheBullseye.com's "Picks of the Week" will give investors an idea of what stocks are likely to move during the week and over the long run.

Somers, who designed the site, said he became involved in the venture by chance.

"Russ Petrin thought up the original idea behind the site," he said. "We felt we had good sound ideas about what was going on in the markets, and we figured, why not put our thoughts out there? There's no downside to it, and the upside is tremendous. Russ talked about the idea with Brian and they came to me through a mutual friend who told them that I had Web building experience."

Since then, the three students have been working hard to make their new company a success.

"It takes a great deal of time," Petrin said. "We are constantly writing articles, enhancing our layout, contacting people and companies for additional material/research, and also developing our business plan."

Commerce Prof. Neil Snyder, however, said it takes more than just hard work to compete on the Internet.

"The Internet has opened up something comparable to discovering the New World," Snyder said.

"We have only scratched the surface. But, you need to think it through carefully and put out something of value. The other day I was watching a football game on TV and I must have seen a dozen .com companies. I could not tell for the life of me what made them different and better," he added.

TheBullseye.com will have to compete with more than a dozen financial sites on the Web, many of them already well established; Woodall cited Web sites such as Marketwatch.com, Yahoo! Finance, Motley Fool and TheStreet.com.

But fourth-year Commerce student Shad Imam said it should be possible for TheBullseye.com will have to compete against the established financial sites.

"It's going to be hard to compete against established firms, but not impossible," Imam said.

"They will need to find a competitive advantage and sustain it for an extended period of time," he said.

Woodall, Petrin and Somers said they know they will have to provide something unique to give their site a competitive advantage.

Woodall said the site presents financial news with analysis, a service not all sites offer.

"After presenting the facts, we put a twist on the article to tell investors what the news means for the market and how they can take advantage of it. This differentiates us from many of the other financial sites, many of which I consider to just be news sources," he said.

"Our articles focus not only on issues that are hot in the market right now, but also our own ideas about industries/companies that aren't in the news, but could make good investment ideas," Somers said.

"Hype is out there, but investors need to look beyond all the glitz sometimes to find good investment vehicles. Every week, we make a few stock picks in our "Picks of the Week" section; we're putting our necks on the line every week by making these recommendations," he added.

Petrin said once they obtain more capital, they will be able to further distinguish themselves.

"We are going after venture capital next semester. Once we receive some money, we will be able to really set ourselves apart," he said.

DeMong said he thinks the students are on the right track.

"I've looked at it," DeMong said. "It's a very interesting site. They need to keep doing what they are doing"

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