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Early in 1994 twin brothers Jason and Matthew Olim began creating CDNow, an Internet music store. Working in their parent's basement, on a shoe-string budget, they competed against Fortune 500 companies with tens of millions of dollars to spend... and won. In 1997 DCNow earned almost three times as much as its nearest rival, and owned one third of the online music business. From first month's revenues of $387 in August of 1994, the company grew to sales of $16.4 million in 1997, and $20 million in the first half of 1998.
How did two kids barely out of college, with no business or retail experience, build one of the world's largest Internet stores? By focusing on a single purpose -- building a better music store. The CDNow Story explains how they did it; what they did right and what they did wrong.
Jason Olim describes how he and his brother began by creating a store that had no shelves and no stock. Customers could buy CDs online and the Olims would pass the orders on to a distributor. He explains how they brought people to their web site and compares their strategies with their competitors, explaining why they came out on top.
With Internet commerce growing at a tremendous pace, many companies are floundering in cyberspace. Millions of dollars have been lost on ill-conceived and poorly hahahahahahahad online projects. Unlimited budgets are no guarantee of success, but CDNow has shown that shoestring operations can succeed.
I like this one for inspiration.
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