BUSINESS PLAN: «Elevator Pitch»

Worldwide tourism is the global industry with the highest growth potential. We will establish a BRAND identified with HELPING TOURISTS, first in Eastern countries, and eventually everywhere.

We will retail user-ready communications and proprietary information for high-and mid-net-worth travelers. We will earn direct revenue by selling/leasing equipment and content(web wireless, cell phones, hand-helds and downloads) which will let them easily get their email and access tourist information at their vacation location.

We are .org because our ‘members’ will be able to access our proprietary content if they already own such devices. And we will buy back and resell equipment such users are done with to inhabitants of the host countries.

This is a concept which could be put into play by a variety of corporations which do not yet have a clear Internet strategy.
We look forward into working with you to determine whether you are a potential investor or strategic partner.

Carol LeKashman
Founder and CEO
odysseas, inc.

For further information contact:

Head Office:
3426 16th St NW #607
Washington DC 20010-3048
tel. 202-299-0584 fax 202-483-0172
email: clek@macconnect.com

Prototype Office:
14-16 Manoutiou
Ambelokipi 115-21
Athens, Greece
tel. 011-30-97-705-7283
fax/tel 011-30-1-64-60-568
email: clek@macconnect.com

PRESS RELEASES

February 14, 2000

October 21, 1999

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We propose to distribute all forms of communications access to the high-end of the greatest growth industry in the world today: leisure travelers.

odysseas will do this by selling and renting BRANDED wireless devices and cell phones, handhelds and content through various channels, including the Web, and real stores in strategic locations.

We will provide vacation travelers with the ability to easily check their email, call their families, and readily obtain current, accurate tourist information, by accessing the Internet, or from files that have been downloaded into their handhelds.

It is a prime instance of thinking globally, and acting locally.

Imagine yourself as a tourist in a country such as Turkey whose language is foreign to you. You probably did not bring your computer with you because you do not know what sort of electrical system they use, or what sort of telephone plugs. Few of the inhabitants speak your native tongue. You have a guidebook, but it is somewhat out-of-date; and its maps are small and not detailed, or are the wrong scale.

In the lobby of your hotel is one of our stores, similar to one you have already noticed in the airport as you left the USA. It offers a range of 'odysseas' brand, state-of-the-market products. These currently include GSM cell phones loaded with short term contracts with the telecom for your vacation destination; web-wireless devices, with short contracts for a local ISP, to enable you to get your email; and handhelds loaded with current local information for you. In fact if you already have a handheld you will be able to simply download/sync information for your choice of destinations.

In addition to the revenue from these transactions, we will offer to buy back at the end of your trip, any equipment that is technologically incompatible with USA standards. We will resell it in the country where you have been, to keep from having a lot of stale inventory.

The implementation plan for odysseas calls for it to be available first in major USA international exit airports and where tourism is important but the local languages/ alphabets are unfamiliar to English speakers. For this reason we have chosen Greece as our prototype. Expansion will proceed towards Turkey, the Arab nations, Russia and all Slavic nations, China, Japan, and all of South East Asia before we tackle Western Europe or the United States, which are more than adequately supplied with such public communications/Internet access.

In the long run, we can distribute our brand almost anyplace. For example, San Francisco would benefit from being able to offer Japanese tourists information in their language.

Our proprietary information will give tourists a chance to feel more comfortable and in control in foreign places. It will include an integrated mapping system allowing the user to find specific street addresses, landmarks, cities and tourist attractions. At our stores, if you don't have/rent a handheld it will be possible to buy printouts of the current data for your destination.. If you already have a wireless device, it can be loaded to display a large-scale map, driving/ walking directions, and up-to-the-minute, correct information about your destination(s).

Most of these devices can even display the user's origin and destination in the local language/writing. If you want to verify your route, or switch to a taxi, a native will be able to read your intentions, and give you help.

odysseas, inc. is a Delaware "S" corporation, whose principal assets are the registered domain name "odysseas.org" and the trademark seen above left.

For further information contact the founder, chairman, and CEO, who is Carol LeKashman

Head Office:
3426 16th St NW #607
Washington DC 20010-3048
tel. 202-299-0584 fax 202-483-0172
email: clek@macconnect.com

Prototype Office:
14-16 Manoutiou
Ambelokipi 115-21
Athens, Greece
tel. 011-30-97-705-7283
fax/tel 011-30-1-64-60-568
email: clek@macconnect.com

Capital is needed for start-up and prototyping. We propose to provide Internet access to the high-end of the consumer market of the greatest growth industry in the world today: tourism.

ODYSSEAS will make Internet access available to people by selling and renting wireless appliances and content in domestic USA airports as they wait for their international flights. We will place our BRANDED kiosks, both in these domestic stores and in significant hospitality and transportation venues both here and abroad. We will provide travellers, particularly vacationers, with the ability to check their email, and enable them to obtain up-to-the-minute accurate tourist information, by accessing the Internet visually, making printouts or downloading files into their handhelds. It is a prime instance of thinking globally, and acting locally.

Imagine yourself as a tourist in a country such as Turkey whose language is foreign to you. You do not know what sort of electrical system they use, nor what sort of telephone plugs, so you probably did not bring your computer with you. Few of the inhabitants speak your native tongue. You have a guidebook, but it is already somewhat out-of-date; and its maps are rather small and not detailed enough, or are the wrong scale. In the lobby of your hotel, you can step up to something that looks like a bank ATM; it is an ODYSSEAS kiosk with a card reader. It is networked to the Internet. By swiping your credit/value card, you will be able to access your email and our proprietary takeaway maps. If you have a handheld you will be able to sync a ‘guide book’ for wherever you are.

In addition to direct customer revenue from these transactions, we will have advertising revenue from three sources: on-kiosk, online and pre-printed on the back of the takeaway. The rollout plan for ODYSSEAS kiosks calls for them to be available first where tourism is important and the local languages/alphabets are unfamiliar to English speakers: Greece, the Arab nations, Russia and all of the Slavic countries, China, Japan, all of South East Asia - before we tackle Western Europe, which doesn’t need such assistance so much.

A second priority for choosing sites for implementation will be locations sponsoring major events, which have new venues, whose locations are not well known by the natives, such as the Olympics. In the long run, we can distribute our brand almost anyplace. For example, San Francisco would benefit from kiosks which offered Japanese tourists information in their language.

Our proprietary Tourism StreetFinder and Interactive Business Directory will give tourists a chance to feel more comfortable and in control in foreign places. It will be an integrated mapping system allowing the user to find specific street addresses, landmarks, cities and tourist attractions. At the kiosk locations, it prints out, or on the wireless appliances displays a large-scale map and driving/ walking directions, and offers up-to-the-minute, correct information about addresses, hours of operation, etc.

Further it will display in the local language, the user's origin and destination. If you want to verify your route, or switch to a taxi, a native will be able to read your intentions. The interactive business directory module works with a database driven directory application to allow the user to quickly identify restaurants, retail shops, night clubs, and tourist attractions enroute to their prime destination. Information about those of interest can be printed as part of the takeaway. Extremely sophisticated mapping programs that do this exist already for the continental 48 states: MapQuest, MapBlast, Maps-to-Go. If we can form a strategic partnership with one of these firms, we can produce the information we require - once they load and map the data for the locations we want to serve.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

As the phone system evolved from a single line with Alexander Graham Bell calling to Watson, to billions of payphones worldwide, the Internet is moving in the direction of it being possible to access the Web no matter where a user is. We seek to increase the ease of use and number of users. All of the technologies to create this brand exist now; more things are added to our potential product list every day. We are not inventors, we are a marketing organization, capitalizing on the opportunity for providing early adopters with full service all over the world.

There are 6 billion people in the world, and half of them have never even used a phone. Of the 3 billion who have, less than 200 million are currently Internet users although the number is growing daily. But 97% of all Internet users check their email whenever they log in: we have all become Internet junkies, even when on vacation. Our stores will enable tourists the chance to satisfy their desire to stay in contact, both by phone and email.

PRODUCT OVERVIEW

Do you think it is easy for a traveler to connect to the Internet when away from home? "All he has to do is to bring his laptop with him". There are lots of problems with this. While most laptops do have built in transformers, the electric and telephone plugs abroad are frequently not to our standards. Connecting to your own domestic ISP or corporate server requires an expensive long-distance call back to the USA, or knowing a local Point of Presence, or how to roam on someone else’s system.

Another solution is to use others' equipment and connectivity. Many business hotels do have office services, but they are not consistent in their equipment, procedures or availability, and they are quite expensive. Internet cafes are usually cheaper but suffer from most of these problems and are often hard to find, buried in student neighborhoods.

odysseas will offer the traveler solutions through a complete choice of hardware, software, content and full implementational support . We will prepare all of these devices to have short-term contracts with local telcos or ISPs. Standalone handhelds such as Palm Pilots will be downloaded on your order with information for your destinations.

When a traveler is done with non-USA compatible equipment, we will buy it back, for resale to users in the country that it is configured for, so we should not have to carry a large aging inventory.

Our branding will help travelers to recognize our sales points wherever they are, from Sydney to Athens to Moscow to Tokyo, and of course on the Web. Some existing products that we would expect to offer as standard items are shown in the following pages (Exhibit I: A through F)

Palm Pilot
www.palm.com/prodsoft.html

COMPETITION

Competition is wide and diverse:, but NOT directly comparable: for example on May 1, 2000 Excite@Home announced a portal for mobile cell phone users, but it aims to serve domestic customers.

Many domestic firms are setting up static locations which will allow you to log on: Get2Net with Host Marriott is doing a joint venture called CyberFlyer, bringing well-equipped Internet cafes to airports in the USA and interstate highway rest stops along I-95. Host Marriott is providing the real estate, and Get2Net is providing the Internet technology, But these are directed at domestic business travelers: they are workstations to use while waiting for a plane. Competitors for immediate email access in airports are Laptop Lane, and Delta Airlines.

Another take on this, for domestic leisure travelers is being readied by AOL and Seagrams together for their Six Flags theme parks.

For international travelers HotelNetinc.com is putting multimedia PCs in its hotel rooms: so far it has eighty, one in each room in a big hotel in the Philippines. It is trying to get funding to do this in the USA.

Another aspect of competition is the endless technological improvements in wireless devices. Cellular protocols in use in the USA (CDMA and TDMA) and those abroad (GSM) are not compatible. Connectivity competition is provided by Omnipoint, which offers rental of very expensive tri-band cellphones, which will work anywhere in the world as they can handle all current standards. But this brand (which uses Ericsson equipment) focuses on business rather than leisure travelers

There are many sources of stand-alone tourist information that can be downloaded into a handheld. These range from Lonely Planet/CitySync, to the recently announced product of Rand McNally, which we could supply either loaded in a device or as a download station for those who have such equipment already.

MARKETING

Our business model, is very simple: we will rent, lease and sell equipment and content which is user-ready and friendly to travelers going places where communications may be difficult. We will buy back and resell to locals anything that the original purchaser doesn’t want to take home.

There are a lot of corporations that could adopt our idea as a business development strategy. A few suggestions of corporations which might be interesting in investing in this idea:

Apple Computer is said to be developing a new generation of Newton type handheld devices, which would be Web wireless. These would be perfect to be featured devices, as our preparation will make them able to deliver "the Internet for the rest of us".

American Express has almost perfect locations and used to have the brand image that would have meshed perfectly with this: mail delivery service for travelers. They have lost a lot of that, but there is some residual image that could be built up.

Brookstone has the perfect image for selling handy devices that are useful or travelers.

MCI WorldCom owns uuNet, which is the largest collection of ISPs in the world; they could be interested in lots of small local contracts such as users of our equipment would need.

Rand McNally is developing its own on-line mapping to compete with MapQuest/Vicinity. This would give them the chance to be our "Intel Inside".

Mailstart (part of webbox.com), Onebox.com and Voicestream.com are just a few of the Internet entities that could figure as partners.

IMPLEMENTATION

KEY PERSONNEL:

BOARD OF ADVISORS
These individuals do not wish to be identified completely at this time:

• A nationally known telecommunications security expert.
• Our new media expert: the head of our R&D.
• Ms. C.R.W.’ financial consultant, expert on financing new ventures.
• ‘Mr. J. R.’ an investor, world traveler and financial journalist;
who provided valuable marketing insights.
• ‘Mr. R.M, a Big Six accounting firm consultant on the
new economy and new media.


BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Carol LeKashman, CEO odysseas, inc.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:
Did STRATEGIC RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & PROBLEM SOLVING
for clients facing rapid changes usually as the result of the innovative use of technology. Clients included non-profit organizations (Recording For the Blind), government units (USAID), service providers (banking, design services, publishing, travel and retail) and architects.

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT Built and motivated interdisciplinary groups in firms noted for their explosive growth, rapid rates of change, and commitment to creativity. Developed, controlled and analyzed budgets as line (up to $500,000) and staff (for a division, up to $5,000,000). Supervised staffs as large as 26. Focused on appropriate use of resources and how to deal with sites requiring flexibility.

COMMUNICATIONS & MULTI-CULTURAL ADAPTATION Write and edit clearly and succinctly. Present complicated ideas verbally, visually and graphically. Lived in Switzerland and Greece as a native; speak, read and write some German and Greek.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY since 1969 ___ managed the introduction of all sizes and types of IT, including all generations of the Internet. Did systems analysis for large complex financial systems at Citibank and Price Waterhouse. Early adopter and privileged user of PC’s: worked with the earliest Macintoshes at SRI International. Unofficial NY Mac evangelist: founder of the New York Mac Users Group Extensive Internet user.

FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY Worked in international operations/ check processing, corporate cash management systems and marketing, and personal trust accounting operations departments; acquired CFP and Series 7 for portfolio management project; wrote IPO prospectus for Calculon. a government services contractor.

TOURISM In college worked in travel agencies; learned a lot about this industry, and gained invaluable experience about customer service and management for service industries in general.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 14, 2000

Jim Rogers, the noted CNBC commentator, successful hedge fund trader and world traveler has recently been in touch with odysseas, inc. Rogers is spending three years on an extensive trip inspecting all of the countries where he has investments. He has been writing a column on his findings for WORTH magazine. His most recent article on "The Safe Havens:" details how anomalies of history have led Andorra, Lichtenstein, Monaco and San Marino to develop enviable economies based on their being tax havens and safe banking centers.

Rogers has been using state-of-the-art Omnipoint equipment for his day-to-day telecommunications needs even from the wilds of Mongolia. He was interested in our idea, and suggested that an important additional phase would be to distribute such equipment in domestic US airports, capturing peoples interest in our products during the two hour window of opportunity between checking in your luggage and your plane’s leaving.

This extremely valuable idea requires us to rewrite substantial chunks of the business plan which has been available on this site for some time; and even more, to adjust the financials which are not posted here (They are available on request to Carol LeKashman at 203-226-6128 by any serious potential investor. )

But in a nutshell, we revision this company as servicing the high- and mid-net-worth travelers who are going to places which we call "non-Indo-European" but which actually includes some that are. We feel that people want information that is current and correct when on vacation, particularly if they are in places where the language/alphabet are not familiar. This includes Greece, Turkey, the Arab World, Russia and the former Soviet Republics and other Slavic countries; and practically everything in Asia: China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.

We envision supplying these people with current/state=of-the-art equipment such as wireless appliances which connect to the Web, international standard dual/triband phones, and handhelds.; We expect to sell them access to our proprietary content/portal, which they can use to download/read email, and access either MapQuest or a clone of it;; and to hotsync handhelds with similar data, of maps and other local info.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 21, 1999

odysseas, inc. Internet Services for Explorers (a Delaware corporation) announced today that its founder and CEO, Carol LeKashman, will be going to Athens, Greece during December to continue discussions with potential strategic partners. She will speak with officials of ELKE (the National Development Bank of Greece), the City of Athens Development Council, the Greek National Tourist Organization (EOT/GNTO) , and the Athens 2004 Olympics Organizing Committee (2004OOC).

The original Odysseas, the Greek version of Ulysses, was the original tourist, lost in an unmapped world. Today, odysseas,inc. operates at the convergence of the fastest growing industry in the world, the Internet, with the largest potential market in the world, international tourists. These tourists are explorers, vacationers and even those business travelers who make time to sightsee. These people want access to their email no matter where they are.

Our product will enable the hospitality, transportation and tourist industries to outsource the provision of Internet services. We will provide a brand of Web PayPhones (and other technologically appropriate Internet appliances as they are developed) to deliver IMAP email access and our proprietary tourist and map content.

Our business model is based on direct customer revenue for connect time in addition to traditional advertising on our kiosks, in our content and on our map printouts. Our product is eminently suitable for viral marketing, particularly in conjunction with travel services sites such as Travelocity, Expedia, etc.and the various IMAP providers such as hotmail.

We are looking for money and even more, we are looking for additions to our management team, both on the board and as operating officers. If you are interested in learning more, or offering your capital whether financial or intellectual, please contact Carol LeKashman at 203-226-6128 or clek@macconnect.com.