Boo Hoo

Boo.com, the online fashion retailer, was launched amidst a blaze of publicity in autumn 1999 - and collapsed the following May. Co-founder of the company Ernst Malmsten is candid in this personal account of boo's short life. He readily acknowledges naive decisions, clashes of approach and instances where less vodka and grapefruit and more early nights might have meant meetings were handled better. But he also ensures readers appreciate the hard work and background research undertaken and the prejudices and obstacles encountered, in an attempt to mitigate the myth that all the dot.com ventures that bombed so dramatically at the end of the 1990s were poorly thought-out youthful fantasies devoid of underlying substance. Proactive in spotting a niche market, Malmsten had successfully undertaken a number of projects, including an on-line book retailer in his native Sweden, before embarking on boo. Ex-model and fellow Swede Kajsa Leander became his business partner in the early days, then with Patrik Hedelin they began to build the company itself. Ambitious technical targets were set to ensure they would be the first web e-tailer in their field. But the trip to success is never an easy ride. 'No matter what happens, the investor is always your enemy,' warned financier Jeffrey Leeds at the outset. A great idea, commitment and boundless enthusiasm were ultimately no substitute for cash. Supporters can quickly turn away. Funding, personality clashes, software issues, website delays and glitches in the hardware platform were to conspire to bring boo.com to its knees at exactly the wrong time, sending its founders to seek further funds from investors just as the dot.com bubble burst. The book is a compelling story of the first high-profile casualty of the e-tailing revolution. The level of detail is sometimes overwhelming. However, the passion of Malmsten, Kajsa Leander, their team and those they inspired shines through until the bitter end. (Kirkus UK)