ScreamingMedia
For the second year in a row, Jay Chiat's content aggregation play makes our list. This company had the you-know-what to go ahead with its IPO at a time when investors were avoiding content-related Web companies. With a big-time distribution deal with RealNetworks, a market cap of $120 million and more than $105 million in cash, ScreamingMedia surely has the resources to build and flourish in 2001.

Vindigo
In 2000, it seemed that every company in Flatiron Partner's "pervasive computing" was forced to restructure amid the dot-com meltdown. All but Vindigo. Yes, the company is dependent on advertising dough when ad spending is rapidly declining. But having just launched its personal digital assistant city guide application in several new markets -- Austin, Denver, Houston and Miami -- Vindigo looks to be growing in popularity. We believe it won't be long before advertisers jump on the wireless bandwagon.

HotJobs.com
For the third year in a row, HotJobs will be advertising in the Superbowl telecast. That itself is a major accomplishment in an environment of layoffs, depressed stock prices and fiscal cutbacks. While Web companies have seen their market caps fall off the table, HotJobs has remained debt-free while expanding its online recruiting services. With a B2B spinoff targeting the headhunting space, the company's revenue is bound to spike in 2001. One ad spot on the upcoming Superbowl telecast will feature the Mamas & The Papas singing "Go Where You Wanna Go." The spot will end with this text: "HotJobs.com. Onward. Upward." Catch slogan for 2001, isn't it?

Register.com
There never will be a more exciting time for Richard Forman's domain name registrar. When the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the addition of the ".pro" suffix to the existing TLDs, the ka-ching of Forman's cash-register could be heard throughout Silicon Alley. Register.com stands to cash in from the registries for two of the seven approved proposals -- ".pro" through RegistryPro, a partnership between register.com, and UK-based Virtual Internet and ".info," as part of the Afilias registrar consortium. With a strategy of luring new customers with domain name registration services and then selling domain name maintenance, Web hosting, e-mail, and other ancillary services, Register.com is definitely one to watch this year.

UPOC
Banking on the penchant for teens and young adults to yackety-yak, wireless community site UPOC has built quite a following with its SMS-based text-messaging platform. With solid backing (they're about to announce the closing of a $12 million funding round), UPOC looks poised to tap into the lucrative cell phone-toting market. The company makes money from licensing its technology to Web sites like Guyville.com, Microsoft's Encarta, Atom Films and Alloy.com. If UPOC's principals can find a way to sell targeted, opt-in advertisements on its platform, the company could emerge as a cash cow sometime soon. In the meantime, its popularity and growth are solid reminders of the strength of viral marketing.

Hookt.com
When Mel Karmazin's Viacom empire gobbled up BET Holdings (which included BET.com and 360HipHop.com), we all thought that Hookt.com and the other smaller hip-hop, urban network plays that target the black audience would disappear under a media giant's footprint of major advertisers. Far from true. Late in 2000, Warburg Pincus plunked down another $5 million to allow Hookt.com to swallow competitor Platform.net and consolidate operations. Hookt's survival in 2001 will depend heavily on the emergence of a corporate backer (read AOL/Time Warner) to level the playing field with Viacom and attract big-name advertisers. Even with a roll-up strategy currently in full force, Karmazin could face intense competition for the wallets of the hip-hop audience.

Imbot
With little fanfair, IMbot has set up shop in the Alley selling its Internet-to-telephone messaging services to application service providers, airlines and logistics companies. Even the downdraft in the industry has not affected this midtown company, which was able to bump up its paid subscriber base to 68,000. Approximately 300 businesses are now testing a free demo offer, meaning the dollars should start rolling in this year. IMbot provides users with a Web-based interface where they can enter a telephone number, a message and a time for the message to be sent. More than 3,000 messages per day are sent at 15 cents a pop. If they can somehow quadruple those numbers, 2001 will be a breakout year for IMbot.

Net2Phone
Once AT&T, Yahoo! and America Online bought into the Net2Phone business plan last year, it was difficult to ignore this voice-over Internet protocol (Vo-IP) telephony play. When we last heard from Net2Phone, the company was planning to discontinue offering free PC-to-phone calls, saying it was convinced customers would pay for domestic and international calls that are routed through the Internet. We are still not sure how they will convert those freewheelers to paid users but Net2Phone has tons of money at its disposal and appears to be zeroing in on the ultimate goal: profits.

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StarMedia Networks
While other Latino-focused portals and Web plays either fold or merge, this one is hanging in there, albeit by the skin of its teeth. Plus, what's a list of companies to watch without a bit of drama included? If this play can continue building scale (read: network effect) with a rapidly-growing Latin and Hispanic demographic, StarMedia could emerge as one of this year's survivor stories. Can users grow fast enough to reach this portal? Will Latin American countries continue wiring for Internet access? Will it find enough advertisers? Stay tuned.

UGO Networks
Urban UnderGround Networks has a list of 350 affiliated sites aimed straight at males in the desirable 18 - to 34-year-old demographic and, oh yeah -- about $68 million in venture funding behind it so far. That includes a $10 million round in December when other plays were still holding their hats in hand. Sure, the site is under pressure to cut costs just like 101 percent of all dot-coms. But with a Web-savvy community of users, snarky content and even Gary Coleman as a columnist, this thing's got gams. In the founders own words, "they're engaged and involvedthey make the rules, and then they break them." Dewd.

LivePerson
One of the last Alley companies to get its IPO out the door before it slammed shut last spring, LivePerson's stock price has taken its share of hits in the markets last year. But the company keeps getting up and pushing forward, smiling like a hockey player missing two front teeth. You'd be smiling too if you knew that call centers are where the profit margins are built and that your company is positioned to play in that sector. Sales conversions with live sales reps is one of this company's mantras. With its recent purchase of HumanClick, a similar real-time, online customer service play, LivePerson acquired over 800 clients in 30 countries. Plus it got HumanClick's 100,000 registered users in 60 countries. In this tough market, that's a hat trick.

Juno Online Services
Maybe broadband development isn't a mirage after all. And with the AOL/Time Warner merger becoming a reality, Juno is a company that might very well be in play. Founded in 1995, Juno is the third largest Internet service provider (ISP) after AOL and Earthlink. The biggest challenge for Juno: lure new users before the major domo of ISPs corrals users already subscribing to its cable service. But, with $125 million in equity financing available over the next two years and deals with high-profile players like IBM and Time Warner in place, the picture is not all gloomy for Juno.

Audible Inc.
New Jersey-based Audible.com has a long list of celebrity contributors supplying it with plenty of original downloadable audio content for its user base. And it needs recognizable names. Although ebooks is a familiar commodity to savvy Internet users, the average person is still unfamiliar with the concept of downloading a book from their hard drive for later play. Maybe. Maybe not. Now, mention Napster and it's a different story, downloading music is certainly more commonplace. But it's only a matter of time before trucker Joe decides to plug into the latest Ken Follet audio file and turn off the sixth play of Willie Nelson's The Maker. Surprised? Not ready to go from random, redundant play to something more personalized? Audible thinks you are. With a publishing imprint established with Random House, it could be only a matter of time before other artists are cutting deals to sell direct through distributors like this online play.

Oxygen Media
Online women's portal Oxygen Media exemplifies a company that originated online and is now migrating to the traditional cable realm its founder, Geraldine Laybourne, hails from. The company, which counts Oprah Winfrey as an early backer and recently collected $100 million from Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, embraces an offline/online mix of media that includes Web-based original content and cable television offerings. In the next year, the company said it plans to scale back its Internet operations to send more cash to its cable-television network endeavors. Depending on how much cash other Internet plays can scare up, the new year may bring other click to brick departures and a renewed interest in old media sure-plays.

Multex
Hark! One of the few Internet plays in the Alley that has turned a profit this past year. That's enough to put it on the list of companies to watch. But wait. There's more. Regardless of layoffs and some looming clouds called slowing profits among some financial powerhouses, online trading is here to stay, and, we think Multex along with it. The aggregator of research reports for all kinds of investors in the markets' ecosystem just keeps on growing. We think investors and businesses will continue to scour the online company's database for research on equities, among other financial information. As long as it can stay focused on doing that well, and getting bigger, we think Multex will be an attractive company to watch.

Flatiron Partners
Whither Flatiron? With a chunk of its portfolio companies shutting down (ScoutElectro Media, HalfThePlanet.com, Urban Box Office) or just plain struggling (iXL Enterprises, TheStreet.com), you might think. But not so fast. Thanks to the outsized returns the quintessential Silicon Alley venture capital firm has enjoyed since its inception, Flatiron Partners is weathering the dot-com shakeout when other venture firms are struggling to stay open. And that's even as its parent company, Chase Capital Partners, prepares to write down some investments. Flatiron helped launch some of the earliest and most notable players in the Alley scene, and its knowledge of how to build early-stage companies is prized by entrepreneurs. With roots like that, this company is still very much in bloom.

Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham
Along with Flatiron Partners, we think DFJ Gotham is another Alley VC firm to watch this year. Last week the New York-based affiliate of the west coast DFJ announced a new fund totaling $107 million. While some of the firm's earlier investments have nurtured late-stage outfits (i.e., Mimeo.com and InfoRocket Inc), the new fund will focus on the sorts of early-stage IT, wireless, broadband and infrastructure startups that have been recently battered by market conditions. And with a section reserved for follow-on fundings, this firm is stating its commitment to helping companies work through their wobbly stage before finding their legs.

Digital NYC/New York Economic Development Corp.
Last April, Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced "Digital NYC," a program designed to match entrepreneurs with affordable, pre-wired office space in emerging hi-tech districts outside Manhattan. Under the program, districts including "Broadband Brooklyn" (Downtown Brooklyn), HI Way (Harlem), Long Island City and Staten Island's SI HUB receive a portion of a $2.5 million grant to help defray marketing costs. City Hall and the market downturn notwithstanding, these hi-tech districts--Brooklyn's Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) have developed significantly over the past year. There's plenty of momentum to believe that the future of the Alley's infrastructure lies as much underneath the Manhattan Bridge, along 125th Street and in Red Hook as it does in the middle of Broadway.

DoubleClick
Like 24/7 Media, Engage and Mediaplex -- all battered by layoffs and significant revenue reductions over the last six months -- Alley giant DoubleClick accrued its share of losses as the ad-spending downturn arrived in full force. In December the company cut around 170 jobs (about 8% of its workforce). A few weeks later DoubleClick lost face when e-mail marketer NetCreations rejected its earlier merger offer, choosing instead an all-cash deal with an Italian media firm. Despite these troubles, DoubleClick has refocused efforts to sell its technology, and it reported about $590 million in cash and marketable securities in its last regulatory filing. It's been said before, but we'll say it again: DoubleClick, one of the biggest companies in the Alley, is its bellwether, its fortunes inextricably tied to the community's. For that reason, and the fact that DoubleClick's fortunes reflect the state of advertising-supported content plays, this company is a must-watch in 2001.

IBM
What? A technology giant lumbering around on a list full of little Web plays? Yup. With so many Web integrator firms in a state of shock over how fast the Internet service sector turned down, Big Blue's big consulting coattails could be more critical than ever this year. The company has made partnerships with smaller Internet services companies a major part of its strategy among its consulting ranks. As big, front-end, back-end integration jobs becoming larger in scope, longer in turnaround and bigger in contracts, partnerships with IBM could be key to many a little consulting shop's salvation. Say what you want about Big Blue, but its story of a technology company that was left for dead in the late 1980s -- only to surge back to life by executing its vision of where technology was headed -- is one for near-dead dot-coms to remember. And it doesn't hurt that IBM is the largest technology company in New York and one of the high-tech region's biggest anchors.

Reciprocal
The digital rights provider, which secures content distribution across multi-platforms, including music -- the company has a deal with Sony -- and content, plans on boosting up its software client base and adding more affiliates in the New Year. The future looks promising. One of the hottest issues on the Web is how companies intend to deter users from absconding with subscription-based or proprietary content. Reciprocal offers technology that protects media, including ebooks and music downloads. Its success depends in part on how fast the company can scoop up clients looking for a content guardian.

Blueflame
New Jersey-based Blueflame, consultants are gearing up this year to share their wealth of technology knowledge with companies that are either revamping well-worn, tattered business models for the wireless age, or existing now as pure plays. Among other services, Blueflame tailors complex, large-scale systems for clients who are new to doing business in the wireless space. Whether a company is stumped by the possibility of syncing PC content with a user's Personnel Device Assistant (PDA) or an advertiser is considering flashing coupon saving ads across a PDA weather channel, Blueflame provides walk-through advice, a highly demanded commodity in today's shaky Internet marketplace.

New York City Investment Fund
Even with all the impressive venture capital outfits here in the city, we think this one is worth watching because of its public-private role. It was created five years ago with the help of the nonprofit New York City Partnership & Chamber of Commerce. The goal is to help create a stronger and more diversified local economy. Thanks to all the contributions of $1 million each from about 68 individual and corporate investors, the fund is capitalized at more than $100 million. Sure, it has seen its share of portfolio companies tank this year, but there are plenty of NYCIF companies that are hanging in there, mindful of holding down costs while building high-tech businesses. If Silicon Alley is going to thrive, public-private partnerships like this are critical in addressing the gaps in this region's high-tech industry.

iClips
It's the Hotmail of Video, as this company's CEO Michael Diamant puts it. A cool way to sell more stuff on eBay could be another way to view this free streaming video messaging outfit. If the uptake on digital photos is any indication, Diamant's iClips could find its niche this year. In the meantime, he keeps building out this "easy video clips" start-up. Diamant's got the right stuff that Alley pundits favor: he's still young but an old hand around the scene. He can even say "back in the day" with authority! The founder of T3 Media also has a bunch of just-as-skilled techies on staff, which is very important. Just think of all those grandmas who can't wait to see emails of little junior's first baby steps. For iClips, they could be just the beginning of new markets to conquer. In the meantime, the company intends to ride herd on three revenue streams that include advertising, sale of hardware and software, and a fee-based service where iClips ramps up the user's Internet connection to make the video clips clearer, faster and lifelike.

BarnesandNoble.com
By now you're well acquainted with the term eBooks, easily transported text stored on handheld devices. In the next year, reading a well-known author from a PDA (which typically sells for about $300) will be in vogue. Of course, that's not to argue that hard and softcover books will be supplanted, as with all media, eBooks offers another outlet for users to spice up their lives. BarnesandNoble.com is playing fast and hard to latch onto the slowly building fervor for eBooks. Several days ago, the online bookseller unveiled its new e-books imprint, Barnes & Noble Digital, along with royalty offers and book prices well below those already offered by publishers online. The division offers authors a 35 percent royalty of the retail sale price of an author's work, which is about 10 percent below the average royalty fee in the eBook sector. A source close to atNewYork said the intention of the bookseller to price its eBooks from $5.95 to $7.95, much lower than the prices online publishers have been asking, is not beneficial for authors. "Authors would make a much larger profit, sometimes two-thirds more, by selling the traditional way and taking a larger profit from the sale of a book that sells for $14.95," she said. In the meantime, as authors weigh the pros and cons of selling their wares as eBooks, BarnesandNoble.com has grabbed the public's attention by announcing that one of its first works comes from best-selling author Dean Koontz. The first selection is "The Book of Counted Sorrows," in which Koontz is set to respond to readers and reveal the source of his "inspirational verses." The company certainly has the right idea, build user enthusiasm for an industry trend by rolling out a popular name. The next year will be filled with plenty more.

Primedia/About
Convinced that the future of the media world is the confluence of traditional and new media, Primedia jumped online with a splash in 2000 with its acquisition of About.com, a deal valued at the time at about $690 million. The jury is still out on the merits of the deal but we believe this could be the perfect blend of niche media -- both on and offline. With the recent spinoff of 'Media Central' (a joint venture with Brill Media Holdings), Primedia appears set to create a content monster to attract advertising revenue from a variety of sources. Definitely one to watch in 2001.

Unplugged Games
A wireless play with revenues? Imagine! Yes, because people like to play games. And gadgets, just like games, are cool to use on the go. With tidy contracts to create wireless games for major telecommunications carriers to deliver to their mobile devices, and more like that possible, Unplugged Games is one to watch this year. Plus, with a management team of experienced Internet players, the start-up has steady hands to help it sail through the current choppy waters for Internet companies.

NetCreations
When an Italian firm topped an offer by DoubleClick to buyout NetCreations, not many were surprised by the $111 million all-cash price tag. The market for e-mail marketing and list management services sold by NetCreations is rapidly growing and, even as a major shakeout consumes the dot-com world, the company's market cap has remained quite stable. Earnings per share have declined steadily since 1998 and, with the space evolving, NetCreations looks set to corner the market.

TeleMedia Accelerator
A portfolio company of the New York City Investment Fund, this company is helping to build a bridge between New York's present as a media and entertainment capital and the fast-emerging digital broadband delivery arenas. Dubbed a for-profit enterprise with a civic mission, the TeleMedia Accelerator also helps support companies whose technologies enable broadband delivery, as well as e-commerce services built on broadband platforms. New York needs the education equivalent of a high-speed connection between its educational systems and its high-tech industry. This company's association with the City University of New York is a promising step in that direction.

Content Plays
Since we're in an odd year, we decided to create an odd entry: a category instead of a company. And with good reason. Of all the dot-com clichis we've endured this past year, here's one we wish we could put to rest: Content sites will never make it on the Web. While high-profile troubles at Salon and APBNews.com -- not to mention a major retrenchment among networks (News Corp. and NBC among them) -- mean that content behemoths are a thing of the past, there are plenty of smaller success stories to balance things out. To wit: Automatic Media, the Feed Magazine-Suck-AltCulture venture which raised $4 million in mid-2000. Then there's IronMinds, a wiseacre essay site for twenty-somethings that young-at-hearts enjoy too. Left for dead by its suitor Novix Media, the site has been repeatedly resuscitated by its founder Andy Wang. And there's "Arts & Letters Daily," a smart, irreverent aggregator of arts reporting from around the world. Founder Denis Dutton and his web site have received plenty of critical kudos in the past few months, with front-page arts coverage in the New York Times and Salon. How these small, dedicated content plays go about finding a sustainable model will be one of the big stories to watch this year.