Tuesday, June 27, 2000
TOAD JUMPS AT CHANCE TO CHAT
GROUP INFORMALLY TALKS TECHNOLOGY
By Mark Watson
The Commercial Appeal
Every other Thursday evening, the conversation in the basement of Kudzu's bar and grill turns from bank shots and pool cues to Web pages and "click-throughs."
That's when the basement pool room of the downtown institution is booked for biweekly meetings of an interactive technology group, improbably named "Lick the Toad." Members gather to share their frank insights on subjects such as Web design, electronic commerce, Internet software agents and various approaches to high-speed Internet service.
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Jo Delahunty, Kudzu's consummately professional waitress, promotes the casual nature of the meeting by keeping track of orders and delivering them without interrupting the flow of the discussion, said Ross Gohlke, whom members acknowledged as founder of "Lick the Toad."
Owner of Web developer Grinz Interactive, Gohlke said that in the late summer of 1998, he sent an E-mail to about 10 people involved in Web design for a meeting of what was then known as Memphis Interactive Cocktails.
In early 1999, Web developer USWeb acquired Quest Interactive, Memphis's first Web design company, Gohlke said. In March of this year, USB/CKS merged with Whittman-Hart to form marchFIRST.
"They had all these great plans to come into Memphis and storm the market," Gohlke said. "But pretty quickly, they liquidated the team and pulled out. So, it's like Memphis is a toad, and if you bite the toad, like USWeb did, you'll die."
By "die," Gohlke means the company was unsuccessful in conquering the Memphis market.
"Memphis is a relationship town . . . so if you lick the toad, which is Memphis, you get a much better response," Gohlke said, and that's where the group got its name.
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