Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
paulgraham.com
Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
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Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#2This is great.
Where did the funding for Viaweb come from and did this plan help you get it?
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#3From what I've read, they got their first seed capital from an angel investor and friend Julian Weber, of about $15,000. He also happened to be a lawyer, so legal counsel was very accessible, if not free. This is somewhere in Paul's essays. Google around and you'll find more.
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#4I love the very last line:
"Spending some money on advertising might also be a good idea."
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#5I love the very last line: "Spending some money on advertising might also be a good idea."
I love the paragraph stating the upcoming introduction of Java into Netscape will help the server generate the stores on a user's screen. Every programmer who've seen it, including Paul, must have laughed at that line later on. "Client-side Java taking load off the server? That's silly!" I believe Paul himself has said, in one of his other articles, that some startups failed during the dot com boom simply because they tried to create their businesses using Java.
That is, until last year. With the JavaScript (AJAX) technology saving CPU server cycles[1] by doing a lot of logic in the web browser itself, Paul's one paragraph predicting something he expected to occur within a few months now sounds way ahead of its time. Either that, or such technology has taken 10 years too long to brew. (Coffee reference!)
I would also like to read the business plans of crazy dot com companies which tanked immediately. It would be great to be able to contrast the two. I'm thinking those business plans probably used a lot of made-up words to confuse the investors. Paul's document is pretty succinct.
[1] as well as saving bandwidth and time, of course.
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#6I really enjoyed reading this, especially given the fact that one of my lingering ideas has to do with catalog generation (but performed much more dynamically than Viaweb).
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#7This may be the first written business plan, but the first idea according to Founders at Work was to let art galleries get on the web.
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#8For one of my MSEE classes at Stanford, I took a business for engineers class taught by a local successful and retired software entrepreneur. I forgot his name. He was paralyzed in one arm b/c of a plane crash when piloting one of his own planes if that rings any bells to anyone. (Guess he was a better businessman than pilot! :) )
Anyway, he would always give case examples from his own experience, and his eyes would light up, making it obvious that this was happiest time in his life. His teaching this class was his attempt to relive his glory days. He never had a family (and was actually ousted from the company so had nothing there), and in a strange way, I think this class was his attempt to have one.
I don't know much about pg, but his viagen references remind me a little bit of this guy. We're all trying to have a legacy of some sort. I believe, though, that of the possible investments one can make with one's time, family is the best and longest lasting one. Keep that in mind, young-uns!
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#9This is great. Where did the funding for Viaweb come from and did this plan help you get it?
Check out Jessica Livingston's book. The interview with pg reveals a lot about their early days in forming the company.
Re: Viaweb/Paul Graham's First Business Plan
#10From what I've read, they got their first seed capital from an angel investor and friend Julian Weber, of about $15,000. He also happened to be a lawyer, so legal counsel was very accessible, if not free. This is somewhere in Paul's essays. Google around and you'll find more.
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