Zip2

Elon got the initial business idea from a summer internship in 1994. A Yellow Pages salesman came into his employer's office to pitch buying an online business listing in addition to the traditional listing in the Yellow Pages book.{{Cite web |last=Mejia |first=Zameena |date=2018-07-16 |title=How internships helped Elon Musk figure out his future |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/09/how-internships-helped-elon-musk-figure-out-his-future.html |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=CNBC |language=en}}

Global Link Information Network, Inc. was incorporated in November 1995 by brothers Elon and Kimbal Musk and Greg Kouri in Palo Alto, California, with money raised from a small group of angel investors,{{cite magazine|last1=Strauss|first1=Neil|date=15 November 2017|title=Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/elon-musk-inventors-plans-for-outer-space-cars-finding-love-w511747|url-status=dead|access-date=15 November 2017|quote="One thing he claims is he gave us a whole bunch of money to start, my brother and I, to start up our first company [Zip2, which provided online city guides to newspapers]. This is not true," Musk says. "He was irrelevant. He paid nothing for college. My brother and I paid for college through scholarships, loans and working two jobs simultaneously. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley."|archive-date=17 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817165150/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-musk-the-architect-of-tomorrow-120850/}}{{cite news|last=Huddlestone Jr.|first=Tom|date=June 19, 2018|title=Elon Musk slept on his office couch and 'showered at the YMCA' while starting his first company|work=CNBC|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/how-elon-musk-founded-zip2-with-his-brother-kimbal.html|url-status=live|access-date=September 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818205314/https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/how-elon-musk-founded-zip2-with-his-brother-kimbal.html|archive-date=August 18, 2020}}{{Cite web|last1=Hull|first1=Dana|last2=Delevett|first2=Peter|last3=Owens|first3=Jeremy C.|date=2012-08-13|title=Greg Kouri, early investor in PayPal, dies in New York|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/08/13/greg-kouri-early-investor-in-paypal-dies-in-new-york-2/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602111156/https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/08/13/greg-kouri-early-investor-in-paypal-dies-in-new-york-2/|archive-date=2019-06-02|access-date=2021-01-30|website=The Mercury News}} plus US$2,000 from Elon, US$5,000 from Kimbal and US$8,000 from Kouri.{{cite tweet |user=elonmusk |number=1211064937004589056 |date=December 28, 2019 |title=We started Zip2 with ~$2k from me plus my overclocked home-built PC, ~$5k from my bro & ~$8k from Greg Kouri (such a good guy — he is greatly missed). My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.}}{{Cite web |last=Brecher |first=Elinor |date=June 15, 2018 |title=Gregory Anthony Kouri, early PayPal investor, dies at 51 |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/obituaries/article213257164.html |access-date=May 11, 2024 |website=Miami Herald}} In Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk, it is claimed that their father, Errol Musk, provided the brothers with US$28,000 during this time,{{r|Bio|p=Ch.4|q=Errol Musk gave his sons $28,000 to help them through this period, but they were more or less broke after getting the office space, licensing software, and buying some equipment}} Elon Musk initially denied this account, but later stated that his father had contributed approximately 10 percent of a US$200,000 funding round, clarifying that the investment occurred at a later stage.

Initially, Global Link provided local businesses with an Internet presence by linking their services to searchers and providing directions.{{rp|61}} Elon Musk combined a free Navteq database with a Palo Alto business database to create the first system.

In 1996, Global Link received US$3 million in investments from Mohr Davidow Ventures and officially changed its name to Zip2. Davidow Ventures changed the fundamental strategy of Zip2 from localised direct to business sales to instead selling national back end software packages to newspapers to build their own directories. Elon Musk was appointed the Chief Technology Officer and Rich Sorkin became the chief executive officer. Zip2 trademarked "We Power the Press" as its official slogan and continued to grow. Zip2 struck deals with The New York Times, Knight Ridder, and Hearst Corporation, and its collaboration with newspapers made it a major component of "the U.S. newspaper industry's response to the online city guide industry", according to the Editor & Publisher.{{Cite web |last=Outing |first=Steve |date=31 August 1998 |title=Zip2's Evolving City Site and Portal Strategy |url=http://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/zip2-s-evolving-city-site-and-portal-strategy/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018214803/https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/zip2-s-evolving-city-site-and-portal-strategy/ |archive-date=18 October 2016 |access-date=22 June 2016 |website=Editor & Publisher}}

By 1998, the company had partnered with about 160 newspapers to develop guides to cities, either locally or at full scale. According to chairman and co-founder Elon Musk, twenty of those newspapers led to full-scale city guides. The New York Times reported that Zip2 also provided newspapers with an online directory, calendar, and email alongside their core offering.{{cite web|last1=Flynn|first1=Laurie|title=Online City Guides Compete in Crowded Field|url=https://partners.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/biztech/articles/14site.html|website=The New York Times on the web|access-date=10 December 2015|date=14 September 1998|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915070350/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/biztech/articles/14site.html|url-status=live}}

Zip2 allowed for two-way communication between users and advertisers. Users could message advertisers and have that message forwarded to their fax machine. Likewise, advertisers could fax users and users could view that fax using specific URLs.{{cite news|last1=Rossello|first1=Rosanne|title=Zip2 offers Yellow Pages niche to newspapers.|agency=Seybold Report on Internet Publishing|issue=1|publisher=Joss Group|date=September 1996}}{{cite news|title=Zip2 to offer online Auto Guide.|agency=Seybold Report on Publishing Systems.|issue=4|publisher=Joss Group|date=October 1997}}

One Zip2 product was called "Auto Guide". AutoGuide connected online newspaper users with local dealership or private party car sellers.

In April 1998, Zip2 attempted to merge with CitySearch, its main competitor. While Elon Musk initially supported the merger,{{cite web|last1=Cooper|first1=Charles|date=3 April 1998|title=CitySearch, Zip2 to merge in $300 million deal|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/citysearch-zip2-to-merge-in-300-million-deal/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812080235/http://www.zdnet.com/article/citysearch-zip2-to-merge-in-300-million-deal/|archive-date=12 August 2016|access-date=22 June 2016|website=ZDNet}} he persuaded the board of directors not to proceed with it.{{cite book|title=The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest Growing Start-Ups from the founding Entrepreneurs|publisher=Chronicle Books|author=Kidder, David; Hoffman, Reid|year=2013|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=2224–228|isbn=978-1452105048}} According to The New York Times, the two companies "cited incompatibilities in cultures and technology" as the reason for the merger's failure.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/18/business/2-web-ventures-end-merger-plan.html|title=2 Web Ventures End Merger Plan|date=1998-05-18|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-06-17|archive-date=2016-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815031747/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/18/business/2-web-ventures-end-merger-plan.html|url-status=live}}

In 1999,{{Cite web |title=Compaq buys Zip2 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/17/business/compaq-buys-zip2-to-enhance-altavista.html |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=CNET |date=February 17, 1999 |language=en |last1=Napoli |first1=Lisa }} Compaq Computer paid US$305 million to acquire Zip2. Elon and Kimbal Musk, the original founders, netted US$22 million and US$15 million respectively.{{cite web |title=Zip2 – Elon Musk's First Successful Startup |url=https://techiegamers.com/zip2-elon-musk/ |website=techiegamers.com |publisher=Techie + Gamers |access-date=13 July 2023}}{{cite web|last=Junnarkar|first=Sandeep|date=February 16, 1999|title=Compaq buys Zip2|url=http://news.cnet.com/Compaq+buys+Zip2/2100-1023_3-221675.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021004422/http://news.cnet.com/Compaq+buys+Zip2/2100-1023_3-221675.html|archive-date=October 21, 2014|access-date=|website=|publisher=CNET}} The company was purchased to enhance Compaq's AltaVista web search engine.{{cite news|last1=Napoli|first1=Lisa|date=17 February 1999|title=Compaq Buys Zip2 to Enhance Altavista|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/17/business/compaq-buys-zip2-to-enhance-altavista.html|url-status=live|access-date=10 December 2015|archive-date=9 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709221217/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/17/business/compaq-buys-zip2-to-enhance-altavista.html}}

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• {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990202180446/http://www.zip2.com/|date=2 February 1999|title=Official website}}

{{Elon Musk}}

{{Compaq}}

Category:1995 establishments in California

Category:1999 disestablishments in California

Category:1999 mergers and acquisitions

Category:American companies established in 1995

Category:City guides

Category:Companies based in Palo Alto, California

Category:Compaq acquisitions

Category:Elon Musk

Category:Software companies based in California

Category:Software companies disestablished in 1999

Category:Software companies established in 1995

Category:Defunct software companies of the United States