Bitzi Throwing "Hibernation Party" November 20

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- November 16, 2001 -- Bitzi, an early stage San Francisco Internet startup, today announced the first-ever "Hibernation Party" -- a celebration of the company's determination to continue operations even while driving its expenditures to nearly zero.

"Facing the same funding crunch as other startups, last month we radically cut our spending, to extend our survival as long as possible," explained Bitzi founder and Chief Technology Officer Gordon Mohr. "Who needs salaries and offices, anyway? Fortunately, we're still small enough to accomplish a lot on a shoestring budget. We figured we'd get that word out with a party."

On Tuesday, November 20, friends, supporters, users, and community members and journalists are invited to join the Bitzi team for cocktails and billiards at Jillian's, 101 4th Street in San Francisco (inside the Sony Metreon), from 6pm to 9pm.

In keeping with the new austerity, the event is a no-host and no-frills affair. "Our budget for this party is zero," said Bitzi cofounder and marketing chief Joe Newman, "so come one, come all!"

Bitzi's website is a cooperative catalog which enables people to identify, describe, and discover digital files of every kind -- such as the media files found on peer-to-peer content- delivery and sharing networks. The catalog currently describes over 300,000 unique files, mostly but not exclusively music tracks, with more information and ratings added by individual users every day.

"We'll actually be quite active through our 'hibernation,'" said Bitzi cofounder and Chief Architect Mike Linksvayer, "adding new features for users and developers, integrating with outside partners, and preparing our paid services for rollout early next year."

Added Mohr: "Of course, we're also continuing to seek venture investments. But only from investors who want to make lots and lots of money."

ABOUT BITZI

Bitzi's service provides the best available identifying, descriptive, and promotional information about files of all kinds, restoring the potential for direct creator-to-audience solicitations in decentralized digital distribution networks. Founded in late 2000 and based in San Francisco, Bitzi has been self-funded by its founding team. For more information, visit Bitzi at http://bitzi.com.

Contact: Gordon Mohr, 415.987.5907, gojomo@bitzi.com, http://bitzi.com