Why did eBay work?
First, we created a business that took unique advantage of the properties of the Net — the Net’s ability to connect many to many — allowing a business to be created where there was no land-based analog. If you can’t buy your book at Amazon, you can still go down to Barnes & Noble. eBay has no land-based analog — not in one place. It was a business model that was created out of the technology called the Internet. Some of the most successful companies are those that had an entirely new model that could not have existed without the Net. eBay might be one of the only businesses that was created on the Internet. Second is whether the business has a successful business model. It has to be a new concept, but it has to be a concept that can make money. EBay was profitable from its inception. Third is old-fashioned execution — building a company to last, building cost behind revenues, not ahead of revenues, having a returns-based investment philosophy. When we spend a dollar on marketing, w
