BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 23, 2000 ISSUE
BUSINESS WEEK E.BIZ -- UPSTARTS ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with E-Stamp Co-Founder Sunir Kapoor No longer at E-Stamp, Kapoor talks about how government bureaucracy cramped his vision for Net-based postage sales In the fall of 1995, Sunir Kapoor had a revelation about a problem that the Internet seemed ideally suited to solve: Everyone has to buy stamps, but everyone hates standing in line at the post office. So, he teamed with Salim Kara to launch Redwood City (Calif.)-based E-Stamp and set out to make a product that would allow people to print postage straight off the Net. The task proved more arduous than he ever dreamed. Kapoor has since left E-Stamp to launch a wireless-software company, Tsola. Los Angeles Correspondent Arlene Weintraub caught up with him on the phone. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation: Q: When you approached the U.S. Postal Service with your idea, how did they react? A: Educating them was a real challenge. First of all, the Postal Service isn't one organization. It's about a dozen different business units, and we had to learn quickly how they all worked and how to interact with them. Second of all, the people who work there are nothing like the people who are dreaming up companies in Silicon Valley. I think they were impressed with our prototype, but I'm not sure they understood the Internet. Q: How did their conservatism affect the development of the product? A: Their security concerns slowed down the rate at which we normally would have operated as an Internet startup. We didn't have total control. And our initial proposal was not what we ended up releasing. Initially, we wanted to deliver postage straight from the Net, rather than have people download it into a separate piece of hardware. But because of security concerns, the Postal Service said they didn't think we could do it. Q: Then Stamps.com came along with a product that does deliver stamps straight from the Net. Were you surprised? A: No. We were paranoid from day one that someone else would come along. We tried to be covert in raising capital and generating interest, but we knew we'd have competition. In any case, neither of us was able to ship a product that provided all the features customers needed. Q: Why did you decide to leave E-Stamp rather than continuing to try to make the product a success? A: After three years, six months, and four days of dealing with a government organization, I had other ideas. I believe online postage will eventually succeed, but ultimately, the market leader will be the company that thinks beyond postage. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS EBIZ Contents for issue dated Oct. 23, 2000 Dead Letter? CHART: Insufficient Postage TABLE: Addressing the Issues ONLINE EXTRA: One More Letter of Resignation at Stamps.com ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with E-Stamp Co-Founder Suni Kapoor INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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