Anyone willing to ignore the carnage left by the tech industry meltdown and last week’s Nasdaq nosedive to dive into their own dot-com start-up may want to listen closely to the advice of ThinkBox.com creator and president Brian Napack. “I would stay away from fat-oriented stuff,” said Napack. In Napack’s lexicon, fat equals fluff. “Most of the dot-coms out there that are making money are focusing on the needs in people’s lives,” said Napack. Actually, it’s not that simple. Still, while the industry shakeout continues to leave tech fund investors grasping for crystal balls and dot-com high-rollers contemplating their next move, ThinkBox.com, a Glendale-based children’s educational Web site, is confident about its future. ThinkBox.com produces an online educational playground and package of teaching tools for children ages 2 to 6. Its signature Web site, Kindle Park, launched in late 2000, is being used by some of Los Angeles Unified School sub-districts free of charge (for the time being). Last fall, ThinkBox completed an exclusive partnership with The Harvey Entertainment Co. to feature the company’s classic characters on its site, including “Casper the Friendly Ghost.” In turn, Harvey featured ThinkBox.com in a 30-second trailer on its children’s feature film, “Casper’s Haunted Christmas,” last fall. Napack is the co-creator of Disney Interactive. Another key member of the 18-member ThinkBox team is former DreamWorks SKG head of animation development Bruce Cranston. Napack said it is precisely because ThinkBox is much more than an e-tailer or e-entertainment site, that it has avoided the “dot-gone” syndrome. “If you can do something better on the Internet, fine. Otherwise, you are really wasting your money,” said Napack. ThinkBox received the “Best in Show” nod at VentureNet 2000 last June, an accolade that in the past has led to funding opportunities. But the recent tech wreck forced the company to concentrate on partnerships, which Napack said has helped open other doors. Those include deals with educational publishers Harcourt, Scholastic and Golden Books. “If you want your site to attract attention, you are better off not trying to establish your own brand as you go along, but rely on established, recognized companies,” said Napack. Teachers are using Kindle Park’s package of teaching tools called Mythinkbox as a textbook supplement. Parents can also access their children’s online work with a password, establishing a direct online link between the classroom and the living room. “This is something that really hasn’t been done before, and we think that because it’s service based on real needs, we will continue to thrive,” said Napack. According to Bridget Foster, director of the California Learning Resource Network, a state-funded project launched in 1999 that monitors online educational Web sites, the need for sites like Kindle Park is growing. Foster said the trend will continue as new teachers with computer skills enter the workforce. The Internet will be second nature to them and they will demand electronic teaching programs. “Internet teaching programs are also very cost-effective,” said Foster. “Not to mention the fact that, when a child does his or her homework online and saves it there, the ‘dog ate it’ excuse is pretty much a nonstarter.” For school use, Web products must adhere to state guidelines, Foster said. Teachers are permitted to use up to 30 percent of their budget for supplemental materials. The other 70 percent must go to textbooks. For now, ThinkBox doesn’t charge for access, but it is close to initiating a subscription program that will cost users $3.95 a month. “We are past the point of giving it away for free,” said Napack. Napack declined to discuss annual revenue because of an equity/partnership deal currently in the works with a “high-profile brand” on the East Coast. He did say ThinkBox.com expects to turn a profit in about a year and he anticipates continued growth in 2001. “I’d like to think that we are a real company, although we are in the early stages of revenue generation,” Napack said.
