The company's bare-bones headquarters is symbolic of what it takes to start an Internet business. It doesn't matter where you set up shop - your basement, a garage or elsewhere. It doesn't have to be in such high-tech areas as Silicon Valley or Seattle. Dot-com sites seem to pop up every day. They sell everything from books and compact discs to cars and groceries.
Research shows that more people are shopping online.
More than 13 million Americans will make an online purchase this year and nearly triple that number will buy on the Net by 2004, according to Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass., e-commerce research company. Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the opportunities. It all starts with an idea, said Segal, 29. Segal's idea came to him after a late night of New Year's Eve partying in 1998. He sat in his kitchen the next morning, thinking of how he could make his life more exciting.