±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Eighteen months ago Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman were a

couple of bright, young, anonymous things. Today the above portrait is

hanging in the National Portrait gallery in an exhibition of British

business leaders of the new century.

Together they are probably the most high profile example of the

generation of dotcom multi-millionaires: sickeningly young,

frighteningly clever and about to become seriously rich. This week

Hoberman, 31, and Lane Fox, 27, will see Lastminute.com, the company

they co-founded less than two years ago, float for over pounds 500m.

The flotation will see these two Oxford graduates make more than pounds

50m each on paper, despite the fact that Lastminute’s turnover is still

tiny - in the year to September 30 1999, the company earned pounds

195,000 in commission, based on total transactions of pounds 2.6m.

Its success is based on a simple premise: offering late details on

anything from flights to concert tickets at knock-down prices. With this

it has captured the imagination of the City and transformed its founders

into icons for the new generation of internet entrepreneurs. Hoberman

has been described in The Wall Street Journal as ’hotter than Tom

Cruise’, while Lane Fox was named one of Tatler’s top ten dates in

Britain.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to meet the duo in person this week -

they are in the US drumming up publicity for their imminent

flotation.

But they have managed to use their own personalities to promote

Lastminute in a way that could give even Richard Branson a run for his

money. Previous profiles have focused on Martha’s long blonde hair,

penchant for little fuschia cardigans and aristocratic connections,

while Brent comes across as more of a background figure - although, in

fact, he is the boss and lastminute was his idea.

However, being virtually the same age as Martha, (but considerably

poorer) I am more curious about how they have reached these dizzy dotcom

heights.

Our story begins in the mid-90s, when the pair worked as management

consultants at Spectrum Strategy. He specialised in telecoms and media,

she in pay TV. Brent subsequently worked at internet service provider

LineOne and auction web site QXL, but left to start Lastminute in June

1998. He says he had the idea because ’I really am one of those people

that books a hotel at the last minute on a Friday night’.

Hoberman asked Lane Fox, by then Head of business development at Carlton

Digital Channels, to join him, and after initially dismissing his idea,

was persuaded to leave her job. The pair then raised some pounds 600,000

of venture capital to get going, so their story is not exactly one of

rags to riches. Both come from privileged backgrounds. Lane Fox, who is

said to be fond of pashminas, is related to the Marquess of Anglesey. An

Oxford contemporary of Hoberman says he was part of an old Etonian set

who ’certainly had a lot more cash than the average student’ and that he

seemed ’used to money’.

Even so, a helping hand can only go so far and it is clear that there

was talent, as well as timing involved in Lastminute’s success. Dafna

Ciechanover, co-founder of Eos Internet Ventures and a former head of

marketing for Excite, has known them both well for several years (she

once turned down Hoberman for a job at Excite because he was ’simply too

good’) and says: ’Both are extremely intelligent, willing to take smart

risks and very pro-active - from the beginning they have defined

markets, not reacted to them.’ But Ciechanover also insists that part of

their success also comes down to their engaging personalities. From the

beginning, Lane Fox in particular, gave Lastminute a personal touch. ’It

was a good idea but it was also done with an incredible amount of spin

and creative execution. The newsletters that she would e-mail out to

regular users always started off with something humorous and topical

about politics or economics, which made an engaging hook.’

Otherwise, it seems that fortune was down to good old hard work -

14-hour days and bucketloads of persistence. Lane Fox is said to have

once called Alitalia 150 times before being granted a meeting. Even now,

she still claims to be at the office until late every night before going

home to bed. The pair have a close-knit circle of old friends and

despite rumours of a romance, they are not a couple.

So what next for the Lastminute wonders of e-business? Hoberman has

described his vision of Lastminute in three years’ time as: ’It’s seven

o’clock, your mobile phone rings and we offer you 25% off at your local

Italian restaurant, followed by an opera, because we know you’ve just

come back from Italy and are feeling nostalgic.’

And what of their new-found status? Surely there must be some profligate

spending, extravagant partying or other example of fame going to their

heads? But no, it seems that they lead a relatively modest life, with

him driving a battered VW and both travelling economy.

’They are building a long-term business and they are behind it 150%,’

insists Ciechanover. But as with many things dotcom, the task now will

be building a business that matches the hype behind the idea.

BIOGRAPHY

October 1998

Lastminute.com goes live

Autumn 1999

Launches in France and Germany

January 2000

Strategic funding from BAA, Sony and Bass Hotels and Resorts; launches

in Sweden

March 2000

Joint venture in Australia and New Zealand announced; Lastminute.com

flotation on London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq