MindSpring
Encyclopedia
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
headquartered in Midtown
Midtown Atlanta
Midtown is the second largest financial district in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, situated between the commercial and financial districts of Downtown and SoNo to the south and the affluent residential and commercial district of Buckhead to the north...
Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. Mindspring merged with EarthLink
EarthLink
EarthLink , is an Internet service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It claims 1.94 million subscribers.- Business :EarthLink provides a variety of Internet connection types, including dial-up, DSL, satellite, and cable. Both dial-up and high speed Internet access are available...
on February 4, 2000, with the company retaining the EarthLink name. In 2006, the MindSpring brand was relaunched by EarthLink as a free VoIP service, which was discontinued in early 2008.
History
MindSpring was founded in February 1994 by Charles Brewer in Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. It had only non-paying customers for four months and eight modems. It initially shared facilities and technical staff with Internet Atlanta, another local ISP. In June 1994 it opened for business and took on its first paying customers. By late 1994, MindSpring had obtained investment funding from ITC Holding Company
ITC Holding Company
ITC Holding Company, LLC is a holding company based in West Point, Georgia.The company began as The West Point Telephone and Electric Company, founded in 1896 by James Smith Lanier. Around 1950, the company changed its name to Interstate Telephone Company. The current Chief executive officer is...
and moved into offices at Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
's Advanced Technology Development Center
Advanced Technology Development Center
The Advanced Technology Development Center is a science and business incubator in Georgia. It is part of the Enterprise Innovation Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is headquartered in Technology Square. ATDC was formed in 1980 to stimulate growth in Georgia's technology...
. It established its first point of presence
Point of presence
A point of presence is an artificial demarcation point or interface point between communications entities. It may include a meet-me-room.In the US, this term became important during the court-ordered breakup of the Bell Telephone system...
outside Atlanta in September 1995, and went public on NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
in March 1996 with the ticker symbol
Ticker symbol
A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
MSPG.
Mergers & Acquisitions
MindSpring grew quickly by acquiring other companies. Along the way, it acquired the ISP business of Nando.netNando
In the early 1990s, NandO or Nando.net was one of the first Internet newspaper sites.-Inception:Nando was produced by the New Media division of The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina...
in North Carolina, although Nando continued as an online news website. In September 1996 it acquired PSINet
PSINet
PSINet was one of the first internet service providers , based in Northern Virginia, and a major player in the commercialization of the Internet until the company's bankruptcy in 2001 during the dot-com bubble and acquisition by Cogent Communications in 2002.-Growth:PSINet was founded in 1989 by...
retail subscribers. In February 1998 it acquired Inter Direct and took over its call center in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. That October it acquired SpryNet and its offices in Seattle, Washington. It also acquired many smaller "mom and pop" ISPs along the way.
In February 1999, it acquired Netcom
Netcom (USA)
NETCOM On-Line Communication Services, Inc. was an Internet service provider headquartered in San Jose, California.It was established in 1988 by Bob Rieger, an information systems engineer for Lockheed and Bill Gitow of System V. Netcom started off in San Jose, California as a service to allow...
and its subscriber base surpassed 1 million. It announced its first high speed cable service to Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
in March 1999 and DSL services to eight cities the following November. In September MindSpring launched its first national advertising campaign.
On September 23, 1999 MindSpring and EarthLink announced a merger of equals that would create a new company under the EarthLink name based in Atlanta. On February 4, 2000 the merger was completed, creating the second largest Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
in the world with over three million subscribers. MindSpring's stock symbol MSPG was retired and the new company began trading under ELNK.
Employees
MindSpring enjoyed a cultCult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
like following with its employees and subscribers. It was known for having a very casual atmosphere, with employees on a first name basis with everyone else and no dress code. In its first few years, MindSpring grew with little paid advertising and relied on satisfied users and employees to spread the word and bring in new users
The office environment at MindSpring is quite different from that at other companies. Employees are encouraged to express themselves in their workplace. Employees are also permitted to pets into the office and furnish one's own room with various accessories.
Employees of MindSpring still consider themselves part of a large family. Ex-employees occasionally throw Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
or reunion parties in the Atlanta area.
Core Values & Beliefs
The MindSpring Core Values and Beliefs were known to the employees as the CV&B's. They were read during all company meetings as well as some team meetings. When possible, the CV&B's were used for guidance.The original CV&B's were thought up by Charles Brewer before he had the idea of MindSpring. He often said that he didn't know what type of business he wanted to start, but the list of core values and beliefs would rule whatever it was.
Original CV&B's
- We respect the individual, and believe that individuals who are treated with respect and given responsibility respond by giving their best.
- We require complete honesty and integrity in everything we do.
- We make commitments with care, and then live up to them. In all things, we do what we say we are going to do.
- Work is an important part of life, and it should be fun. Being a good business person does not mean being stuffy and boring.
- We are frugal. We guard and conserve the company's resources with at least the same vigilance that we would use to guard and conserve our own personal resources.
- We insist on giving our best effort in everything we undertake. Furthermore, we see a huge difference between "good mistakes" (best effort, bad result) and "bad mistakes" (sloppiness or lack of effort).
- Clarity in understanding our mission, our goals, and what we expect from each other is critical to our success.
- We are believers in the Golden Rule. In all our dealings we will strive to be friendly and courteous, as well as fair and compassionate.
- We feel a sense of urgency on any matters related to our customers. We own problems and we are always responsive. We are customer driven.
After merging with EarthLink, a new CV&B was added: "We love to compete, and we believe that competition brings out the best in us."
14 Deadly Sins
The 14 Deadly Sins were created by Mike McQuaryMike McQuary
Mike McQuary is an American entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Wheego Electric Cars and is a Partner in Ellis, McQuary & Stanley, a merchant bank, both based out of Atlanta, Georgia...
. After the merger with Earthlink, the 14 Deadly Sins were no longer emphasized and were eventually removed from EarthLink's website.
THE 14 DEADLY SINS OF MINDSPRING (or ways that we can be just like everybody else)
- Give lousy service- busy signals, disconnects, downtime, and ring no answers.
- Rely on outside vendors who let us down.
- Make internal procedures easy on us, even if it means negatively affecting or inconveniencing the customer.
- Joke about how dumb the customers are.
- Finger point at how other departments are not doing their job.
- Customers can't get immediate "live" help from sales or support.
- Poor coordination across departments.
- Show up at a demo, sales call, trade show, or meeting unprepared.
- Ignore the competition, they are far inferior to us.
- Miss deadlines that we commit to internally and externally.
- Make recruiting, hiring, and training a lower priority because we are too busy doing other tasks.
- Look for the next job assignment, instead of focusing on the current one.
- Office gossip, rumors, and politics.
- Rely on dissatisfied customers to be your service monitors.
Relaunch
In April 2006, EarthLink relaunched its free Vling voice communication service under the name MindSpring. The service allows for free text chatting similar to other instant message programs, as well as telephone calls to any SIPSession Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
-compatible software. This service was discontinued in early 2008.