Viaweb

Last updated
Viaweb
Viaweb.gif
Screenshot
ViawebLandingPage.png
Type of business Subsidiary
Type of site
 E-commerce
Area served United States
Founder(s)
Parent Yahoo!
CommercialYes
Launched1995;28 years ago (1995) [1]
Current statusInactive

Viaweb was a web-based application that allowed users to build and host their own online stores with little technical expertise using a web browser. [1] The company was started in July 1995 by Paul Graham, Robert Morris (using the pseudonym "John McArtyem"), [2] and Trevor Blackwell. [3] Graham claims Viaweb was the first application service provider. [4] Viaweb was also unusual for being partially written in the Lisp programming language. [5]

Contents

The software was originally called Webgen, [6] but another company was using the same name, [7] so the company renamed it to Viaweb, "because it worked via the Web ". [8]

In 1998, Yahoo! Inc. bought Viaweb for 455,000 shares of Yahoo! capital stock, valued at about $49 million, and renamed it Yahoo! Store. [9] [10]

Viaweb's example has been influential in Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial culture, largely due to Graham's widely read essays [11] and his subsequent career as a successful venture capitalist. [12]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Company". viaweb.com. Archived from the original on 31 Jan 1998. Retrieved 5 Mar 2021.
  2. ↑ How a grad student trying to build the first botnet brought the Internet to its knees, by Timothy B. Lee, at the Washington Post ; published November 1, 2013; retrieved November 1, 2018
  3. ↑ Livingston, Jessica (January 2007). Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days. Apress. pp.  207–208. ISBN   978-1-59059-714-9.
  4. ↑ Livingston, Jessica (January 2007). Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days. Apress. p.  206. ISBN   978-1-59059-714-9.
  5. ↑ Paul Graham (April 2001). "Beating the Averages". paulgraham.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  6. ↑ Paul Graham (1995-08-24). "Viaweb's First Business Plan". paulgraham.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  7. ↑ Paul Graham (April 2005). "Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas". paulgraham.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  8. ↑ Paul Graham (April 2001). "Beating the Averages". paulgraham.com. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  9. ↑ Randy Weston (1998-06-09). "Yahoo buys Viaweb for $49 million". CNET News. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  10. ↑ "Company news: Yahoo buying Viaweb, a web marketing software maker". New York Times. 1998-06-09. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  11. ↑ Graham, Paul (May 2004). "How to Make Wealth" . Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  12. ↑ Christopher Steiner (2010-10-20). "The Disruptor In The Valley". Forbes. Retrieved 2011-02-16.


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