Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | E-commerce |
Area served | United States |
Founder(s) | |
Parent | Yahoo! |
Commercial | Yes |
Launched | 1995[1] |
Current status | Inactive |
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]
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]
Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | E-commerce |
Area served | United States |
Founder(s) | |
Parent | Yahoo! |
Commercial | Yes |
Launched | 1995[1] |
Current status | Inactive |
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]
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]