Find Your Partner
When industry giants and dot.coms come together, it's profits that fly round and round.
Andrea Reisman had a problem--a huge, "Is this the end of my business?" crisis. Just a few weeks earlier, the 30-year-old co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Petopia.com, an online pet supply store, had been on top of the world: She had closed a May 1999 venture financing round that pumped $9 million into her start-up. But then came June 14, and her world tilted upside down when arch-competitor Pets.com announced it had closed a $50 million venture round that included cash from Amazon.com. Pets.com was simultaneously forming a strategic alliance with the e-commerce godfather. That meant visitors to Amazon.com would be peppered with continual reminders to buy kitty litter and 100-pound bags of puppy chow at Pets.com.
More aggravation came when Petsmart--a billion-dollar brick-and-mortar pet chain--announced it would merge its online outlet with independent online store pet.net, thereby transforming Petsmart.com into a formidable and slick e-commerce player.
Continue reading this article - and everything on Entrepreneur!
Become a member to get unlimited access and support the voices you want to hear more from. Get full access to Entrepreneur for just $5.
Entrepreneur Editors' Picks
-
These Co-Founders Are Using 'Quiet Confidence' to Flip the Script on Cutthroat Startup Culture and Make Their Mark on a $46 Billion Industry
-
My 7-Year-Old Daughter Started Selling Eggs. Here's What She Taught Me About Running a Startup.
-
Why You Need to Become an Inclusive Leader (and How to Do It)
-
Career Transitions You Can Make in Your 40s and 50s
-
Billionaire Naveen Jain Is an Expert at Disrupting Fields He Has No Experience In. His Secret Sauce for Building Multi-Million Dollar Companies? 'You Have to Come as Naive.'
-
4 Principles to Develop Next-Level Leadership at Your Company
-
This Filipino American Founder Is Disrupting the Beverage Aisle by Introducing New Flavors to the Crowded Bubbly Water Market
