Assertion certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Conine: Wayfair founders' first business was a $5 Ithaca web directory

Steve Conine · Wayfair: Niraj Shah & Steve Conine · Apr 16, 2018 · at 4:44

Steve Conine, co-founder of Wayfair, recounts the origin of his and Niraj Shah's first venture during their senior year at Cornell in 1995.

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“Our idea was actually to develop some internet directory services, and we would go downtown in Ithaca, New York, and try to pitch companies on paying us five bucks to have a listing in our internet directory, and of course, most of them would look at us like we're nuts.”

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Assertion Not checkable as stated
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Assertion Not checkable as stated
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