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Frances Katz - Staff Wednesday, August 16, 2000 ETour Chief Operating Officer Donna LaChance says she was lured back to Atlanta from Sydney, Australia, for the opportunity to help take the downtown-based dot-com company to the next level. Well, that and Smoothie King. "The first week I was back, I went right to Smoothie King," she says laughing. "They don't have those in Australia." In 1999, the former BellSouth.net executive and 15-year resident of Atlanta left not just the country but the hemisphere to accept the job with Australia's Cable & Wireless Optus as its multimedia director. She says she's excited to be back home in Atlanta, and that the chief operating office post that she was offered at eTour was exactly what she was looking for. "I joined eTour because I see the value in the management team that Roger (Barnette, eTour co-founder and chief executive officer) has already assembled, and the unlimited potential for eTour to change the way people use the Internet," she says. "I believe we can make eTour one of the major brands of the new economy." LaChance brings years of management experience and an ability to articulate just exactly what eTour does, which has been a stumbling block for the company in the past --- primarily because the business model and technology have virtually no competition. As COO, she will have all of eTour's 160 employees, with the exception of Barnette, report to her. "It's Roger's and my job to move us through our next growth phase and that means a clear focus on common goals and objectives," she says. She says she has what she calls the "rock theory of management" to motivate her staff. "You set rocks out there for people to aim toward. If people are hiding behind the rocks, move the rocks. If there are rocks in the way, move the rocks. If people are throwing rocks at each other, you stop them." LaChance believes in the possibilities for eTour, which Barnette founded in 1998. It delivers Web pages to users based on the interests they indicate. "I wanted to be part of something that was serious, a real part of the new economy," LaChance said, sitting in a conference room of eTour's new Peachtree Center offices. "Etour is the engine that puts advertisers and consumers together. It's a technique for navigating the Web." Beyond connecting consumers with Web sites pegged to their interests, LaChance says the eTour model can be extended to other ventures. "More and more corporations will be doing business online," she says. "Retail stores and supermarkets have definite ways they want you to move through their stores. Web sites don't. We could be a wonderful merchandizing vehicle for e-commerce." While eTour contemplates possible business applications, LaChance wants to make consumers aware of the value eTour offers. Most of the sites selected by eTour are chosen by a group of editors, who decide if a sports site is interesting or useful enough to be delivered to users who like sports. LaChance says that kind of selection gives the venture more value than having intelligent agent software trolling the Web for related sites. "An agent can tell you what's there, but a person can tell you if it's any good," she says, adding that if eTour does its job correctly, the site will be useful not just to overwhelmed Web newbies but to jaded Web junkies who think they've seen it all. "A big part of our business is wowing customers, the other part is delivering a superior advertising opportunity," she said. "We are a good way for advertisers to reach people who are interested in them." LaChance says she is determined to take eTour to the next level and beyond. "We're going to manage this company so we'll be here tomorrow," she says. "This is too good an opportunity to squander." ABOUT DONNA LaCHANCE | |||||||||||||||||||||
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