Seeking W. European Consultants

[Peter F Cassidy]

I am the director of research at TriArche Research Group (TRG), a
collaborative of intellectual mercenaries who cover a number of
disciplines in IT from network development to marketing communications.
(In this venue, it might be informative to tell you that I am also one of
the co-founders of the Digital Commerce Society of Boston in 1995.) Right
now, myself and some collaborators are working to organize some of the TRG
practices into slightly more formal enterprises and to expand our network
- especially in Europe, South Asia and the Middle East.

Right now, TRG's coverage is, in turn, spotty and lopsided. (We have two
people in Brazil and no one in the Netherlands, for example.) To
alleviate that discrepancy, I'll be visiting Europe to, among other
things, meet with potential TRG correspondents in late October and early
Nov. in Amsterdam, Paris, the UK, Scotland and possibly Germany. (I'm
still planning my intinerary.)

I am interested hearing from any European-based business development and
marketing consultants who would be interested in enrolling as
correspondent consultants with TRG. The deal? It costs nothing. The way
it works is simple: requests for proposals come in that require a
correspondent or correspondents' expertise and/or native knowledge of
regionally defined markets. The request is processed and relevant parts
of the project forwarded on to the (regionally and topically speaking)
appropriate correspondents.

The guiding principle of TRG is to rapidly organize relevant expertise and
experience around projects rather than scale up an organization whose
culture and institutional systems clients have to adapt to. As I
described it to a client this summer, TRG can complete a project before a
big research house can figure out the lunch bill. (We delivered a 51-page
analysis to that client less than two weeks after initially responding to
their request.)

TRG can deliver research and services faster and at attractive rates in
large part because the teams it organizes bear no infrastructure burdens
and no organizational committments. TRG has no offices, no post boxes, no
telephones and no employees. TRG has no stock holders, no revenue targets
and no executives with too much time on their hands to get in the way.

TRG correspondents are independent consultants that operate their own
businesses and/or work full or part-time for IT firms - as well as taking
assignments under the TRG banner. When the project they've been recruited
to work on is closed, they return to them. Like war-making in medieval
Europe, all the knights return to their estates when the battle is won.
Standing armies have always been a needless expense.

Examples of recently completed projects:

Market analysis of Brazilian ISP industry for international
telecommunications company, assigned as a sub-contract from an
international research house.

Development of marketing communications strategies and materials for
LotusUK and LotusUS.

Market analysis and industrial profiles of wired and wireless models of
ISPs for a cellular phone company developing plans for its own ISP.

Statistical analysis of internet technologies, assigned as a sub-contract
to a NYC-based research firm.

Projects on the board or in negotiations:

Competitive intelligence profile of an Australasian-based software company
for a software firm in direct competition with it.

Co-branded executive briefing series on e-commerce and internet
technologies for NYC-based research firm.

Thus far, we have had to forego pursuing some projects for lack of
correspondents on the ground in relevant locales. As well, we aren't
pursuing Euro-centric contracts because of the paucity of representatives
we have there. It was the near loss of an important contract that put the
fire under us to expand the correspondents network.

The last European project we completed involved examination of ISP models
in the UK where we have Roy Edwards, a telephony maven and a samurai
researcher/analyst. There was, however, an E. European aspect to the
project that the client wanted to pursue. We finessed our way around it -
but had they insisted on greater depth in this area, we might well have
had to forego this contract. I don't want to have to face that kind of
prospect again.

Please take a moment, if you could, to examine our web site at
<http://www.triarche.com>. It's sprarse but we are expanding it this
coming fall, including links to very busy sites that will, no doubt, bring
in a much larger number of requests for research and consulting than we
get today. (One business partner, eMarketer <http://www.emarketer.com>
alone will probably deliver a large number of inquiries. In part, we are
bolstering that correspondent base to handle that increased traffic.)

If you have any questions, write at pcas...@triarche.com.

Here's my trip schedule thus far:

Oct. 25th: Fly into Amsterdam and meet with local crypto/software
development folks that I've contacted through mutual friends and chase
down potential correspondents.
Oct. 29th: Arrive in Paris to meet with Roy Edwards and Rodney Thayer and
a fellow from Brussels who wants to join the network.
Oct. 30-Nov. 1: Loire Valley to meet with potential TRG correspondent and
suffer through glass after glass of the local wine.
Nov. 2-3: Meet with both current and potential clients in and around
London and meet with a couple of potential European TRG correspondents,
including a fellow from St. Petersburg.
Nov. 3-5: Head up to Edinburgh to hang around with friends, possibly
stopping at Stirling to meet with a potential TRG correspondent and to pay
homage to Wallace.
Nov. 6-8: Glasgow, for symphony and beer.
Nov. 9: Back to Boston on an early flight.

My plans are still somewhat protean. I still have some flexibility to meet
with people in Western Europe, UK and possibly E. Europe. I'm still
pondering the possibility of stops in Prague and/or Budapest. . .

Regards,

Peter