Product Line or Service

WeFusion is an application services provider (ASP) for communities like alumni associations, fraternal groups, military communities and trade associations. All of these businesses share a common problem, that is, they each have an increasingly Internet savvy membership base demanding more and more online services, like online directories, yet they do not have the resources to make or buy the solution. WeFusion offers a B2B solution to channel partners like affinity credit card providers (e.g., MBNA and First USA) and receives a monthly licensing fee. WeFusion offers a B2B2C solution directly to certain associations at no cost and receives a 3-year exclusive contract that allows WeFusion to leverage their brand and offer certain products and services to their membership base. From an investor’s perspective, WeFusion is a low risk investment vis-à-vis most B2B Internet companies because it expects to start each month with a solid base of licensing revenue and it expects to acquire customers at $5 to $10 per customer while the average Internet company spends $250 per customer. Thus, the typical B2C issue of investing to establish a brand is not an issue for WeFusion because it leverages its client’s brands. In summary, WeFusion is a B2B ASP that enables association channel partners (like MBNA) and associations to expand their existing brand while monetizing their existing membership base.

WeFusion.com offers the following applications that are web accessible (and will soon be wireless accessible): interactive alumni directories, “branded” e-mail, bulletin boards, group e-mail, personal rolodex, calendars, chat rooms, and photo albums etc.

Technology/Proprietary Rights

In exchange for these applications, WeFusion gets a four year exclusive contract to provide these and related applications and the right to use the membership database to drive members to and through its revenue channels. WeFusion.com has (i) applied for trademarks in connection with its name WeFusion.com and (ii) a growing list of applications that could be the basis for a patent. 

Market Opportunity

B2B Market and Revenue Model - Affinity Channel partners like MBNA or First USA. These businesses have more than 5,000 association customers. WeFusion expects to license its applications for a monthly fee of $2,500 per association to association channels like MBNA, First USA and USAA. 

B2B2C Market - 50 million members with great economic demographics. As of May 15, 2000, WeFusion has 22 contracts representing 1.8 million alumni. Its next market is the military community (approximately 30 million association members). Other target markets include university alumni (with a market size of approximately 30 million) and trade associations (approximately 30 million). 

B2B2C Revenue model: WeFusion expects to monetize the associations’ loyal membership base by leveraging the buying power of members, driving prices down for members and earning a commission on each product it sells using a company like Mercata.com as the buying engine. WeFusion also expects to offer financial services like online trading through our communities. In addition, revenue will come from member subscriptions for Premium Services (e.g., a branded web-enabled phone that can access the members’ only database.) Another source of revenues are fees paid by the associations for Premium Services (e.g., online fund raising.) 

Marketing/Sales and Distribution

WeFusion.com expects to leverage affinity channels like MBNA, First USA or MBNA. Rather than expensive direct mailing campaigns, WeFusion applications allow affinity channels to reoffer WeFusion’s applications to their affinity associations a “Members Only” intranet through which these channel partners will be able to offer promotions at a far lower cost than traditional direct marketing strategies. 

WeFusion.com uses a direct sales force to obtain contracts with the fraternal and military community market. 

WeFusion.com has entered into a marketing agreement with SAIC (an employee-owned consulting firm with more than 40,000 employees) whereby SAIC employees who are retired senior officers in the Air Force, Navy, Army and Marines make sales calls and introductions to executive directors of military associations on WeFusion’s behalf. 
WeFusion.com also uses an inside marketing team (“Membership Consultants”) to create excitement and buzz within each of its partner communities. Each of these Membership Consultants is responsible for converting 300,000 alumni/members into 50,000 active users of our applications. 

Manufacturing Development

WeFusion.com has built its community infrastructure on a proven hardware and software platform based on technology from leading vendors including Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and Microsoft. WeFusion.com communities are designed using open Internet protocols and are accessible via standard Internet browsers (Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer and AOL). In addition, WeFusion.com communities will soon be wireless-enabled to allow members access to their communities from cell phones using the Wireless Application Protocol. The community infrastructure is also designed to maximize the power of WeFusion’s partner’s branding through unique customization that is rapidly deployable. 

Competition

Competitors in the alumni market include Harris Publishing, MyPersonal.com, iBelong.com, egroups.com, alumni.com, and wego.com. Competitors in the military market include iServed.com, military.com, militaryhub.com and maingate.com.
A key competitive differentiator is that WeFusion.com offers community-building applications while the others are, for the most part, portals that deliver content. In addition, WeFusion.com offers a pre-populated database so that members feel that they are part of a dynamic community, as opposed to the “empty” feeling for those portals based on a registration process. Ultimately, the commercial strength of the Internet is the ability for viral marketing to extend the time-tested “word of mouth” recommendation.