Pierre Omidyar was only 28 years old when he created the multi billion dollar company eBay. When he started it in 1995 it went by the name, “AuctionWeb”, rather than the title eBay we are all familiar with now. Pierre Would become a billionaire by the age of 31, only 3 years after his company was founded. He originally started the site because of a need, one his then fiance saw first hand. Pierre’s fiance, Pam, was a collector of Pez dispensers and was struggling with expanding her collection. Pierre talked to his wife about this and came up with the idea for an online marketplace where knick-knacks could be bought and sold. This would give his wife a more expansive network of Pez owners to buy from. As he watched his side project gain traction and takeoff, he saw more and more potential for a functional business. People had a need for all kinds of uncommon or strange objects. He quit his day job and decided to pursue his rapidly accelerating business and watched it begin to blossom. He watched as he sold things he would normally throw away for decent prices. He continued to invest in his business changing it from a free service to charging users a small fee for listing or buying and watched as eBay slowly but surely changed cent by cent into the multi billion dollar company it is today.
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It is so strange to think that a multi-billion dollar company like eBay started with the pain of Pez dispensers. I wonder why the name was changed from AuctionWeb to eBay? The first being pretty logical, but the second being short of catchy, either way I’m sure that the product would be successful.
This is a fantastic post!! I think eBay really exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit of millennials. With it’s origination coming from the identification of an exceedingly simple problem that has proven to be common, Pierre made a positive impact on the world. I think the most distinguishing aspect of this business is, even with immeasurable success, eBay hasn’t stopped innovating. Today they continue to release new features, improving and expanding their platform.
I never knew the origin of a website that has such a big impact on my life. It is crazy to think how a small idea can make it big.
This is a super sweet post and I like how it shows the evolution of ideas. We all know eBay as a website that we go onto to buy anything from regular items to the craziest collectibles. However, as shown above, the original idea was formed as a response to Pierre’s wife struggle to find more Pez dispensers for her collection. Though, this idea quickly evolved to what we see today a eBay, none of it would have happened if Pierre didn’t create a website to help his wife collect Pez dispensers.