Viaweb

{{Short description|Defunct e-commerce store}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Viaweb

| logo = File:Viaweb.gif

| screenshot = File:ViawebLandingPage.png

| collapsible = no

| collapsetext = Screenshot

| url =

| commercial = Yes

| type = E-commerce

| company_type = Subsidiary

| registration =

| founder = {{hlist|

| Paul Graham

| Robert Morris

| Trevor Blackwell

}}

| key_people =

| parent = Yahoo!

| area_served = United States

| launch_date = {{start date and age|1995}}{{Cite web |title=Company |url=http://www.viaweb.com/vw/com.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980131010142/http://www.viaweb.com/vw/com.html |archive-date=31 Jan 1998 |access-date=5 Mar 2021 |website=viaweb.com |url-status=dead}}

| 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.{{r|company}} The company was started in July 1995 by Paul Graham, Robert Morris (using the pseudonym "John McArtyem"),[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/11/01/how-a-grad-student-trying-to-build-the-first-botnet-brought-the-internet-to-its-knees 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 and Trevor Blackwell.{{cite book |last=Livingston |first=Jessica |title=Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days |publisher=Apress |date=January 2007 |isbn=978-1-59059-714-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/foundersatworkst00livi/page/207 207–208] |url=https://archive.org/details/foundersatworkst00livi/page/207}} Graham claims Viaweb was the first application service provider.{{cite book|last=Livingston|first=Jessica|title=Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days|publisher=Apress|date=January 2007|isbn=978-1-59059-714-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/foundersatworkst00livi/page/206 206]|url=https://archive.org/details/foundersatworkst00livi/page/206}} Viaweb was also unusual for being partially written in the Lisp programming language.{{cite web|url=http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.htm|title=Beating the Averages|author=Paul Graham|work=paulgraham.com|date= April 2001 |access-date=2016-02-19|author-link=Paul Graham (computer programmer)}}

The software was originally called Webgen,{{cite web|url=http://paulgraham.com/vwplan.html|title=Viaweb's First Business Plan|author=Paul Graham|work=paulgraham.com|date=1995-08-24|access-date=2011-02-16|author-link=Paul Graham (computer programmer)}} but another company was using the same name,{{cite web |url=http://www.paulgraham.com/bronze.html |title=Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas|author=Paul Graham |work=paulgraham.com |date=April 2005 |access-date=2011-02-16 |author-link=Paul Graham (computer programmer)}} so the company renamed it to Viaweb, "because it worked via the Web".{{cite web|url=http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html|title=Beating the Averages|author=Paul Graham|work=paulgraham.com|date=April 2001|access-date=2011-02-16|author-link=Paul Graham (computer programmer)}}

In 1998, Yahoo! Inc. bought Viaweb for 455,000 shares of Yahoo! capital stock, valued at about $49 million, and renamed it Yahoo! Store.{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131123210613/http://news.cnet.com/Yahoo-buys-Viaweb-for-49-million/2100-1001_3-212001.html|title=Yahoo buys Viaweb for $49 million|author=Randy Weston|work=CNET News|date=1998-06-09|access-date=2011-02-16}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/09/business/company-news-yahoo-buying-viaweb-a-web-marketing-software-maker.html|title=Company news: Yahoo buying Viaweb, a web marketing software maker|work=New York Times|date=1998-06-09|access-date=2011-02-16}}

Viaweb's example has been influential in Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial culture, largely due to Graham's widely read essays{{cite web |url=http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html |title=How to Make Wealth |last=Graham |first=Paul |date=May 2004 |access-date=29 August 2018}} and his subsequent career as a successful venture capitalist.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1108/best-small-companies-10-y-combinator-paul-graham-disruptor.html|author=Christopher Steiner|work=Forbes|title=The Disruptor In The Valley|date=2010-10-20|access-date=2011-02-16}}