HIGH FINANCE
"The nightmare begins at tax time," says Jim Clark, the 55-year-old computer legend whose three startups - SGI, Netscape, and Healtheon - have him juggling $2.5 billion in personal assets. Clark was shelling out $400,000 a year on legal and tax services before he tapped former KPMG financial adviser Harvey Armstrong to be his personal CFO. "I was paying a huge amount to collect data for taxes, and stuff was still falling on the floor," Clark says. Ever the entrepreneur, he saw a business opportunity in his problem; enter a new startup called myCFO.
Think of myCFO as a Quicken for the stinking rich. The service helps wealthy people manage and track their personal finances online. Everything from investments, bank statements, and bills to those annoying yachting expenses is stored in a secure, digital repository. "We're not trying to replace brokers or accountants - we're creating an integrated system for them all to use," says Clark, who will pump about $5 million into the Mountain View startup, which opens its virtual doors early next year.
Initially, myCFO will target people with "complex financial lives," the lucky 3,000 to 5,000 Americans whose net worth exceeds $50 million. Eventually, the service will extend to those who have managed to scrimp and save a mere $5 to $10 million. That may sound like a niche market, but Clark is targeting the wealthy for the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: That's where the money is. Today, the richest 1 percent of the US population - about 2.7 million people - account for 40 percent of the wealth.
HOME CEO TOM "TJ" JERMOLUK, WHO IS BOTH A MYCFO INVESTOR AND BOARD MEMBER,
For the rest of us who don't qualify for the service, there's still a chance to take advantage of myCFO. Clark is already talking about taking the company public.
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