At the dawn of the dotcom era, a Silicon Valley tech geek on a personal vendetta rolls out the world’s first e-commerce site. Vintage lunchboxes? Second-hand guitars? B-list celebrity autographs? It all finds a home on AuctionWeb, and before long the site’s growth is skyrocketing.But founder Pierre Omidyar isn’t prepared for the infrastructure challenges tha ... Show More
Aug 2019
Business Battles | Monster vs Beats by Dre | 1
With all the hype around portable and smart speakers, it’s easy to forget that they didn’t always exist. In fact, it took one fateful meeting with Monster Cables and Interscope Records to really kick the industry off. In this one-episode Business Battle, we explore the time when ... Show More
26m 16s
Mar 2020
Starbucks vs Dunkin - A Steamy Culture Clash | 1
A former high school dropout named Bill Rosenberg has big dreams and a passion for coffee. In 1950, in the small town of Quincy, Massachusetts he’s got a thriving coffee and donut shop called Dunkin Donuts. In front of the store he proudly puts up a huge sign that reads, World’s ... Show More
25m 28s
May 2015
66. (Ch. 7.3) The Founding of eBay
...or, to be more strictly accurate, this episode covers the founding of AuctionWeb, the site that would become eBay. How Pierre Omidyar founded a company that brought auctions to the web and revolutionized what classified ads and ecommerce could be. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co ... Show More
43m 48s
Jan 2025
Saving Barnes and Noble | Lost in the Amazon | 2
Barnes & Noble’s first e-commerce website, BN.com, launches under the leadership of Stephen and Leonard Riggio. But the company’s attempt to join the digital revolution might be too little, too late.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, an ... Show More
38m 58s
Jan 2025
S16E11: eBay Unpacked: Revitalizing the Online Marketplace Giant
Send us Fan Mail"Buy Now." A platform built on connecting millions of buyers and sellers, eBay is no stranger to the world of online commerce.Once a pioneer of online auctions, eBay remains a household name. But with increasing competition from Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, and n ... Show More
24m 48s
Sep 2020
#97 Secret Sauce or Snake Oil?
Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everything went wrong. Christopher Hussain's startup, RealKey, is supposed to make the complicated mortgage lending process simpler, but his pitch left our inv ... Show More
25m 55s
Jun 2021
SaaStr 460: SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin, and Klaviyo CEO, Andrew Bialecki, on the $9.5B Revolution in eCommerce: Part One
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What does success look like for SaaS founders? Whatever the answer is, it rarely happens overnight. Meet Klaviyo –– a heavyweight industry player in the next generation of eCommerce and customer communication. In this podcast, Klaviyo CEO Andrew ... Show More
31m 43s
May 2021
Diapers.com & Jet.com: Marc Lore
Around 2003, after forays into banking, baseball cards, and—believe it or not—bobsledding, Marc Lore landed on an idea for an e-commerce business: a website to make it simple for parents to order diapers. The only problem, as he quickly discovered, was that it's impossible to mak ... Show More
1h 14m