Anthony Casalena founded Squarespace after noticing the difficulties of building a website. He was a web designer himself, having a familiarity with technologies such as HTML, Java, and CSS. He thought he could make the process more accessible, enabling anyone to make their own website. While being a student at the University of Maryland, Casalena started building Squarespace. It started as and still is, a drag-and-drop website builder.
Casalena’s beginnings as an entrepreneur are similar to that of Mark Zuckerburg. Both started technology startups in college and gained considerable success. Like Facebook, Casalena has led Squarespace to gain a large following and even a place on the stock market. Squarespace has allowed thousands of businesses to build their own website, eCommerce stores, and blogs. To date, Squarespace is hosting over a million websites. This makes it one of the largest website platforms in its industry.
A unique feature of Squarespace is its pre-built designs and all-in-one solutions. Although there are competitors that operate similarly, Squarespace websites are distinctive. Animations and colors are minimalistic. They can also be implemented rather quickly. Previously, building your own website led to a poorly poor product. Squarespace has enhanced this process, allowing users to more beautiful and complete designs. Casalena has mentioned this, stating:
I believe that minimalism is a process. It’s not an aesthetic. It’s not black and white. It’s the thoughtfulness that goes into creating these things.
More recently, Casalena is working on expanding Squarespace by acquiring other startups. The most notable acquisitions by Squarespace have been Tock, a reservation application, and Acuity, a scheduling utility. This shows Squarespace’s goal of making an all-in-all tool for business owners and their online presence.
Overall, Casalena shows how a business can take on multiple markets, have humble beginnings, and be known for its design.
Sources
https://tracxn.com/d/acquisitions/acquisitionsbySquarespace
https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/2021/04/20/squarespace-founder-is-a-billionaire-ahead-of-direct-listing/
This story just shows that the basis for entrepreneurial thinking is seeing a problem and have the determination to fix it. Entrepreneurship is all about seeing the problems people are facing and fixing or improving it.
I really enjoyed reading this post. It is an interesting business because it helps other entrepreneurs be entrepreneurial. I like how you emphasized the element of design (like we talked about in class)–what makes SquareSpace unique is its user-friendly, professional design.