Jupiter shoots for the moon

The market research firm has always said the Net would be big. Now it's big enough to launch Jupiter on a bid to go public.

By Janelle Brown

Sep 2, 1999 | Walking through the heart of Jupiter Communications, the "online intelligence" company, vice president Adam Schoenfeld points out the place where Jupiter recently broke through a wall to expand into the corresponding floor of the building next door. The white plaster has been carefully peeled away to expose a foot or two of raw brick -- a nod to the rapid growth of Jupiter and, as Schoenfeld admits, a "design clichi."

The building is in the trendy NoHo area of New York, smack-dab in the center of what is known as "Silicon Alley." Schoenfeld says proudly, "We just busted through this wall, and already we're going to be expanding up to the third floor as well." Sure enough, the office is packed elbow to elbow with black-clad hipsters in their 20s and 30s, just like a Net startup, with analysts juggling phones and keypads amid stacks of brightly colored research reports -- just like journalists.

Jupiter Communications is a 13-year-old research firm that has rocketed to the top of the consumer Internet analysis business with its research, conferences and consulting. Two years ago, it was a relatively modest newsletter company, best known for its press quotes expressing optimistic statistics about the future of the Net. Today, it touts itself as a full-blown market research and consulting firm with more than 500 clients and a successful conference series, competing with much larger and more established firms like IDG and the Gartner Group. And within the next few months, Jupiter plans to be a publicly traded company.

Certainly, Jupiter has made a name for itself. Its Internet industry analysts and forecasts are frequently cited in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and a sea of technology trade magazines. Its projections on everything from online holiday shopping to online advertising revenues can be found in many a startup's business plan. And data from its reports show up more often than not in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Internet companies going public -- like the S-1 filings of iVillage, Women.com, Salon.com and Jupiter itself.

But what does Jupiter know about the future of the Internet that technology executives, journalists and others following the same space don't?

Next Page: How does a "struggling novelist" become an Internet analyst?

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