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At that point, Joe did not seek publicity. In fact, he did the exact opposite: He started to focus on how he could prevent potential competitors from becoming aware of his growing success. One of the things Joe immediately did was to establish a number of different Web sites, under multiple corporate names, that appealed to different types of people: One site, for example, had a very serious, staid corporate image and was called the Trademark & Data Research Company; a second site, called Mr. Trademark, had a friendly, almost counterculture look. He launched other sites, with their own distinct characteristics, as well. Meanwhile, Joe and the exact same trademark search service stood behind all of these sites. This was a smart effort to attract different demographic segments to his business. It was also a brilliant effort to forestall competition. By establishing multiple sites under different names, Joe created the appearance that the trademark search business was already crowded and competitive. In effect, Joe was so concerned about potential competition that he created a smoke screen: He wanted those who looked at the arena to believe that if they tried to enter it, they would be fighting several well-established competitors for customers.

Whenever you wonder why the press hasn’t written more about successful go-it-alone entrepreneurs, think of Joe Strahl. Because he is a private company, he isn’t required to reveal his profits to anyone. He isn’t venture-funded, so he doesn’t answer to another entity that might publicize his success. He has gone out of his way to prevent awareness of his success.

At the same time, Joe’s business is not, on its face, of particular interest to the typical reporter. He is not forthcoming about his activities, his sales volume, or the number of people he employs. Indeed, Joe’s business is interesting only in the context of this discussion and the larger trend it represents. It’s easy to see why any reporter, bombarded by releases from far larger companies who are planning to go public and are touting their revolutionary activities, would gravitate instead toward writing about aggressive publicity-seekers.

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Terms of Use GO IT ALONE! Copyright 2004 by Bruce Judson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.