"We didn't want to end up in Cambridge or Wellesley where hot dogs cost $6.95 and to be in the 'in' crowd you have to have an espresso every morning," Malik said.

Malik and Brennan, who had been running Splash Media Studios Inc. out of their homes, looked into the Cyber District and liked what they saw. They moved here in 1998 and renamed the company LookTrade last year.

"We had heard about the Cyber District in the trade publications," Malik said. "We came here and Lowell Gray (of Shore. Net) showed us around. The rent was reasonable so we came." Former Small Business Assistance Center Director Shawn Stockman also played a key role in the company locating here, Malik said.

It has not taken LookTrade long to make its mark in the burgeoning Cyber District. Its 1999 revenues were more than $250,000, a figure that is expected to double this year. The company now has four full-time and 3 part-time workers, and has been mentioned in the Boston Business Journal for its retention of the firm's original employees.

In June, LookTrade, an information technology firm that develops online auctions and Internet exchanges for business-to-business marketplaces, was named winner of the third annual Cyber District Business Plan Competition and received free rent, high speed Internet access, legal and personal services and other benefits.

"Our business plan focused on a new direction we're taking the company," Malik said. "We are changing to an application service provider (ASP) exclusively in the business-to-business space offering companies rented software application as opposed to outright purchase, inclusive site hosting and technical support. The award is vindication that we're headed in the right direction."

Malik explained that the options LookTrade develops are powered by dynamic pricing, meaning the price goes up and down based on demand as opposed to a traditional auction where the price only goes up. As an ASP, LookTrade will build a large solution that clients can plug into. "It will be pre-built for a massive amount of customers," Malik said.

"The fact that companies like LookTrade can embrace the positive experience of working with development agencies in the city is most encouraging," said Peter M. DeVeau executive director of EDIC/Lynn. "Over the long run this is the best marketing tool that the city can invest in. We need to make the process of opening a business in this city as unburdensome as possible."

Malik, 29, and Brennan, 30, met as students at Northeastern (Class of 94). Malik majored in journalism with a minor in business (one of his co-op jobs was at the Globe North Weekly in Lynnfield). He went on to get an MBA and advanced degree in new media from Boston University. After working for a few Internet service providers-Erols, Ulrtanet, and RCN-he teamed with Brennan, who was co-founder of a company called Web Ducks (which recently sold for more than $440 million).

The pair started to concentrate on the business and decided to go at it full-time. That's when they found Lynn. "We saw what Shore.Net has done and that had a big influence on us," Malik said. "The real reason I liked it here is that there is no nonsense here. We came here to work. We come from disciplined backgrounds and we wanted a place where we could focus and move forward."