Tripod Inc.

Tripod Inc. operates as a web hosting service under its parent company, Lycos. The company was a notable player in the first wave of user-generated content in the 1990s, initially focusing on building online communities for college students and young adults.

The venture began in 1992 with Williams College classmates Bo Peabody and Brett Hershey, alongside economics professor Dick Sabot. Peabody, who graduated in 1994, served as the CEO from the company's headquarters in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The initial concept was broader than just a website, encompassing a magazine called "Tools for Life" and a student discount card. The Tripod.com domain was registered in September 1994, and the website officially launched in 1995. It was conceived as a "hip Web site and pay service for and by college students," offering practical advice and services like résumé assistance. However, a feature for building simple home pages, originally an afterthought, quickly became its most prominent offering, placing it in direct competition with services like GeoCities and Angelfire.

Tripod's business model initially revolved around a small fee and commissions from product sales by partners on the site. It later transitioned to a model that included free and paid web hosting. The free service was supported by placing advertisements on user websites, while paid plans offered ad-free sites and additional features. After securing a $4 million venture capital investment, Tripod raised another $10 million in May 1997. This period of growth culminated in its acquisition by Lycos on February 3, 1998, for $58 million in stock. Under Lycos, Tripod continued to target the college demographic, while its former competitor Angelfire, also acquired by Lycos, focused on high school users. By 2009, the option for free services was phased out for new users, shifting the business entirely to a premium subscription model.

Currently, Tripod offers two primary paid web hosting plans, "personal" and "professional," powered by the "Lycos Publish" web authoring system. These plans vary in storage space and included features. Historically, services included 20MB of storage, CGI scripting capabilities, blogging tools, photo album managers, and the Trellix site builder. For-pay tiers provided more disk space, e-commerce shopping carts, custom domain names, and email services. Users can purchase a custom domain, which removes the tripod.com subdomain and provides benefits like increased storage and personalized email accounts.

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