The+Hotmail+Model

The Hotmail Model is one more example of a non-ad model for business.

Hotmail literally "sold itself." Whenever a Hotmail user sent an e-mail, a terse message at the bottom allowed Hotmail to sell itself. Hotmail was a free service—the first free e-mail service—but this free service sold itself and become an ideal model of viral marketing.

It turns out that the users of this free service were not the customers. The customer turned out to be Microsoft, who acquired this valuable service for $400 million, and got a customer list as a bonus.

There are countless ways that, if you have a great idea, you can give it away virally (at minimal cost to you) and then sell what you've built, based on the value that you've created.

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