How Half.com Went from Zero to a $300M Exit in Just 12 Months

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👋 Hey Dealifters!

Hope your coffee's hot and your ambitions hotter 🔥 — because today’s story is the kind that’ll make you want to throw your phone down and start building something.

We're diving into the absurdly true tale of a college kid who bootstrapped an idea, went viral with one of the boldest marketing stunts ever, and sold his startup for $300 MILLION... all in just 12 months.

Yes, really. This one’s a banger. Let’s lift the deal. 💼🚀

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📈 From Idea to $300M in 365 Days?! 😳

What if I told you that some dude started a company and sold it for $300 million — all in just one freakin' year?

Sounds like a scene out of a tech bro fantasy, right?

Well… this actually happened. And it’s not crypto. Or AI. Or some flashy SaaS.
It was used books, CDs, and DVDs.
Let’s rewind to the year 2000 — aka the Dot-Com Gold Rush.

Meet Josh Kopelman: The OG Startup Legend 👨‍🎓💡

Josh might not be a household name, but in the startup world, he’s a lowkey beast.

🕰️ Flashback to 1992:
Josh, a sophomore at Wharton (yes, the same school as Musk), co-founded Infonautics — one of the early online info platforms. The company IPO’d by 1996, while Josh was still in his 20s. Casual.

📦 But by 1998, Josh got that entrepreneurial itch again. He was eyeing something new: e-commerce.

And that’s where the real magic begins.

💭 The "What If" That Changed Everything

Josh noticed a huge problem — students wanted cheap, used stuff like textbooks, CDs, and movies. But options? Pretty meh.

🛑 eBay? Too slow. Too messy. Auctions were not it.
💡 So Josh had a better idea:

And just like that, Half.com was born — named for the 50% discount on everything. Clever, huh?

💸 The Hustle Begins: No Auctions. No Drama.

Josh bootstrapped the early prototype and raised $2M in seed funding. A few months later, another $4M came in from a Series A led by Vanguard Ventures. 🔥

The model was stupid simple:

• Sellers list used items

• Buyers get fixed prices

• No bidding wars

• Half.com takes a 15% cut

• Zero inventory held by the company

And it worked. Really well.

🧨 The Wildest Marketing Stunt in Dot-Com History

Here’s where the story takes a bonkers turn.

🗺️ In January 2000, Josh paid a tiny town in Oregon $100,000…
To change its name to “Half.com, Oregon.” FOR. REAL.

📸 Front-page Wall Street Journal.
🎤 News outlets went crazy.
📈 Traffic exploded. Users flooded in.

It was guerrilla marketing genius — and today, that stunt still gets taught in marketing classes.

💰 The Fast Exit: eBay Comes Knocking

Half.com was booming. And eBay — feeling the heat — made a move.

In June 2000, just months after launch, eBay bought Half.com for a cool $300 million in stock.

And yes, Josh took the deal — cashing out with a life-changing win while most founders are still arguing about logo colors.

eBay later used Half.com’s fixed-price idea to roll out its iconic “Buy It Now” feature.

🚨 Dot-Com Bubble? Maybe. Genius Timing? Definitely.

Sure, the dot-com bubble burst shortly after.
But Josh? He didn’t care. The bag was secured. 🧠💼

And the lesson?

🧠 What We Can Learn (Especially Right Now)

Are we in an AI bubble today? Maybe.

But while everyone debates that on Twitter, builders are out here shipping. 👷‍♂️⚒️

And just like Josh in 1999, you might be one idea and one wild stunt away from your own $300M exit.

So ask yourself:

Let’s get building.
– Deal Lift 🚀

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