Where we Started - a Semi-Brief History

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Back in 1997 the internet was still a baby. Fresh out of college, Matt Sampson decided to try to claim his stake in the world wide web. His family owned a small ski shop called The Snow Leopard in Evergreen, Colorado so he purchased the domain TheSnowLeopard.com and started building a site. One issue though, he had no experience. None.

So, Matt's wife-to-be bought him a book called "HTML for Dummies" and Matt read it cover to cover, entranced by what could be done with simple coding. He practiced day and night and finally posted his very first version of the little ski shops website.

"I was so proud of the site. It was one page, had a logo and some information about our hours and how to get to the store", says Matt. "Looking back on it, it was truly horrid", he said with a smile. (Want to see this first site? Here's what's left of it at the Way Back Machine.)

Later that season, Matt realized that the site wasn't going to go anywhere without selling online. He started doing his research and found a company called ViaWeb. They offered a service for $19.99 a month that would allow you to build an online store. ViaWeb was later purchased by Yahoo! ! and became what we know today as Yahoo! Store.

Matt Sampson, CEO

So, Matt was on a mission. Get everything he could online from the store and start selling it. The Snow Leopard's first order came a little less than a month after launch and was for $14.99. It was a carry bag for a pair of snowshoes. Matt was thrilled, and that little $14.99 sale motivated him to go all the way. And he did.

The Snow Leopard's Yahoo! store grew and evolved over the years to a store with over 500 items. Matt was frustrated with Yahoo! 's standard templates so he started to explore RTML. He attended a conference about RTML and came back to the store and re-designed the site (again).

Soon, the site was pulling in 50 to 100 orders a day and Sampson was overwhelmed with the work. It was way too much work for one person to handle, so he started pulling staff off the retail floor to help him with the web business. Quickly, the website (operating out of a closet in the back) out grew it's space and the retail store was reduced in size while the web operations started taking more square footage.

At that point, Matt thought "This is a great opportunity for Small Businesses to get online! I wonder if I can help people start selling in their own Yahoo! Stores?" And Colorado Web Solutions was born.

Old Everything Bagel Site (pre CWS)

With no money and a little site to peddle his wares, Matt signed his first client, EverythingBagel.com. It was a small bagel shop in California that had a Yahoo! Store, but needed it to be spiced up a bit. Matt worked closely with them to help and after a few weeks, the new EverythingBagel.com was launched. The company saw an immediate increase in sales after the design and started to grow. And grow... and grow... and grow. Now EverythingBagel.com has evolved into EverythingHome.com and that's literally what they are. From a small bagel shop making a few thousand dollars from their website, they have grown into a multi-million dollar enterprise. They now run multiple site and have the latest and greatest technology that Yahoo! has to offer.

Everything Home has since moved all their design in house, but owner Michael fondly looks back saying that, "It all started with Colorado Web Solutions. If Matt hadn't helped with the re-design of our site, I may have never realized what was possible. Thank you Colorado Web Solutions!"

Matt continued to work with the family ski shop as well and in the spring of 2001 he realized that the website was too big to run our of a retail store. So, he and his new web team picked up and moved down to Golden Colorado and started the web only side of the business.

Business was booming and after one holiday season of receiving over 500 orders a day, Matt realized that Yahoo! Store might be too small to handle their volume. So, after months of research, he signed on with a company called UniteU. Working with UniteU, Matt launched SnowLeopard.biz. This site was integrated with their POS system and eliminated many of the inventory headaches that has started to crop up with Yahoo! . They sadly said goodbye to their Yahoo! Store and moved on with the UniteU platform.

SnowLeopard.biz with UniteU

Still today, Snow Leopard Mountain Sports is using the UniteU platform, but looking back on it, Matt said, "If I knew then what I know now, I would have stayed with Yahoo! . Their platform is so robust and it keeps evolving. We could easily handle the business today with Yahoo! , but the technology just wasn't there when we needed it." He also adds that, "If I had known then what I know today, I would have never left Yahoo! . It's got it's limitations, but with the coding that's available today, they're pretty minor in the big picture."

While Matt is still somewhat involved in the Snow Leopard Operations, mainly as a consultant, he has grown Colorado Web Solutions into a web design power house. Colorado Web Solutions has hired numerous developers and designers and now can handle up to 40 projects at a time without breaking a sweat.

In 2004, Matt started exploring Affiliate Marketing. He helped Snow Leopard launch their affiliate marketing program with Commission Junction and trained their staff to manage the program with ease. Matt decided to try his hand at affiliate marketing sites as well and found great success with it. With that success though came great frustration.

First Version of Affiliadd.com

"The merchants just don't have the technology I want. If there was a tool out there that could help me manage this, I'd be thrilled." DING! And with that small ding in the back of his head, Matt dreamed up Affiliadd Solutions.

Still under development at this time, the Affiliadd promises to change the way affiliate marketing works. "It's the perfect affiliate tool box. It'll do anything. It's not going to replace Commission Junction, it's going to enhance it." Matt was adamant from the start with his staff that the Affiliadd would be free to affiliates. "I wanted to create a tool that was free to use. Creating something that was designed by and for the affiliates was my goal." To this day, the Affiliadd is free for all affiliates and merchants pay a small monthly fee to be included in the technology.

View from our Offices in Colorado

So, from a small closet in a 200 square foot retail store to offices overlooking Colorado's Front Range, Colorado Web Solutions is a true success story. "It's not about our success though, " says Matt, "We're only successful if our clients are successful. We remain steadfast and focused on the clients themselves and their businesses. We treat them like they are our own businesses. It's truly a partnership between design and business. That's where our slogan came from, 'We design Business. . . Online." He continues with, "We don't just design websites, we design businesses. That's what makes us such a great company to work with. We understand online business. We've run a successful online business for 10 years and we can help clients avoid making the mistakes I made when starting out."

"The future?", smiles Matt, "Oh I can't wait for the future, you're not going to believe what we've got up our sleeves." Guess we'll have to wait to see what the future holds, but we can tell you this. Colorado Web Solutions is growing. We're developing new tools. We're creating new ideas. You're going to love what you'll see.