In 2001, the internet was on fire. Not in a good way.
Pets.com was gone. Webvan was gone. Hundreds of e-commerce companies had burned through their money and vanished. Starting an online retailer that year was roughly as sensible as opening a video rental store in 2012.
Somebody did it anyway.
He called it Newegg, and the name was the entire thesis. A new egg. New hope for e-commerce, at the precise moment nobody had any.
Twenty five years later, Amazon is one of the largest companies on earth. Newegg did $1.44 billion in net sales last year and is still standing.
Which raises the obvious question. How does anyone survive a direct fight with Amazon in the exact category Amazon dominates?