Stamps

Stamps.com = Group Project

Stamps.com was started in 1996 as Stampmaster based in Santa Monica, CA= . The primary product of the company allowed consumers and small businesses to print postage from their office printer and avoid a trip to the post office. Customers initially paid a 10% pre= mium (over the cost of postage) to use this service. The company went public in 1999 at= the height of the Internet Gold Rush securing over $100 million from new investors and genera= ting a windfall liquidity event for founders and existing investors. The company now generates ~$2M in profits quarterly on quarterly sales of ~$20M ($86M annually). The company has over $82M in cash = on the books. It has taken the compa= ny over 10 years as a public company (13 years since it started) to reach this level.

The assignment is to spend some time as a group and find all the information th= at you can about Stamps.com (surf the Web, use analyst reports, consult local = executives, …). Use this information to pr= epare a 40 minute group presentation for the class (10 minutes following for Q&A). Every member of the group must participate in a significant= way in the presentation.

Explore the fundamental business idea and founding of the company, any initial succ= ess they enjoyed, the IPO (winners and losers) and then chronicle the company’s progress to the present.&n= bsp; How powerful an innovation is their product? What level of competition do they face? How much upside is avai= lable for this company operating in this market?= Has this been a good deal for holders of common stock? What about funding investors and founders? How about the curre= nt management team?

The groups that we currently have are:

Group 1: Jason, Justin, Make, James

Group 2: Rachel, Andrew, Maggie, Thomas