e-Dreams

In 1998, Kozmo.com was little more than an idea in the minds of two 20-something Korean American investment bankers: an online convenience store that made deliveries of snacks, videotapes and other products within a half hour. Beginning in an unfurnished warehouse, co-founders Joseph Park and Yong Kang and their small group of employees did everything from building the website to making deliveries on bicycle. Over the following year their business grew from 10 employees to 3,000 and expanded into 11 cities. Like so many other dot-coms, Kozmo.com's growth was something hitherto unseen: It raised more than $250 million for the sensational IPO and attracted the attentions of Starbucks and Amazon.com. But in the tough times following the April 2000 stock market crash, Kozmo.com found itself in a perilous position- unprofitable and struggling to keep its operations going; and the formerly ubiquitous bicycle-delivery people in orange became an endangered species.