Webmail.us

Webmail.us emerged as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider specializing in hosted email solutions for the business sector. The company was co-founded by Pat Matthews, who, after dropping out of Virginia Tech with friends to start a dot-com venture in 1999, navigated the post-dot-com bust by pivoting the business. This evolution led to the creation of Webmail.us, which officially launched after its founding in 1999 and was headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia. The venture was built on just $500K of outside capital, bootstrapping its way to its first $1 million in recurring revenue.

The firm's business model centered on providing a private-label, cloud-based email platform for small and mid-sized companies, as well as resellers like small service shops and large ISPs. This service eliminated the need for clients to maintain their own hardware, software, and security filters for spam and viruses. Revenue was generated by offering these hosted email accounts, which by 2007, numbered around 600,000 paying business accounts across 70,000 client companies. The company provided deep discounts for resellers, who would then bill their own customers, and supported them with white-labeling, marketing collateral, and training.

The core service was a comprehensive email hosting platform that allowed businesses to use their own domain for a professional email address. Key features included POP and IMAP access, a robust webmail interface, and effective spam protection. The platform was designed for reliability and ease of use, enabling businesses to outsource the complexities of managing an email server. Following a period of significant growth, where it was recognized as one of America's fastest-growing private companies, Webmail.us was acquired by its hosting partner, Rackspace, on October 1, 2007. At the time of the acquisition, Webmail.us was generating approximately $8 million in annualized revenue. The company was later rebranded as Mailtrust and became a part of Rackspace's Cloud Office division.

Keywords: hosted email, email reseller program, private label email, SaaS, business email hosting, cloud email, Pat Matthews, Rackspace acquisition, Mailtrust, email hosting provider, small business email, corporate email solutions, web-based email, email security, spam filtering, IMAP hosting, POP3 email, outsourced email