Internet Entrepreneurs, The

E*Trade signs up

Critical Path's breakthrough came with the signing up of E*Trade, the on-line broking company, headed by Christos Cotsakos. That was in April 1998 and it gave the company the credibility it craved:

'When we signed them up, it gave us a reference to sell into the ISPs (internet service providers). Christos saw the concept of outsourcing, the concept of the technology and the scalability of it, the ability to run the service in real time. It took another visionary to say we are going to go with you and we want to invest in you. That happened around the same time that the venture community began to understand the idea. But it was a gruelling process.'

But it was also a moment of achievement and pride:

'It was a great thing for ...