I was today introduced to the famous Million dollar homepage by a colleague today.
The short version of the story behind the Million dollar homepage is that in 2005 a university student named Alex Tew living in England decided that he could make money to pay for his university fees by selling pixels on a web page for US$1. He created a simple web page with a 1000 x 1000 pixel array, therefore creating US$1,000,000 worth of 'pixel' real estate ready for sale.
The pixels where sold in minimum blocks of 100 x 100 and the intention was that advertisers would place there logos or designs that would then link to their web sites.
Alex succeeded in selling all 1,000,000 pixels and therefore certainly has his university fees taken care.
The end result is amazing to look at and some what resembles a patch work quilt. In fact I think it could be quite at home in a contemporary art galley symbolizing the Internet and a full market place of wares vying for our attention.
Alex's discusses in his FAQ section that he came up with the idea while brainstorming random ideas one hot summer night for about an hour.
From an entrepreneurial point of view the idea has the following merits:-
- It was unique at the time, apparently copy cats have emerged since, but never with the same success.
- The title was catchy, "the million dollar home page", and very quickly communicated the idea.
- Alex had a great story behind the idea, a young university student looking to pay his university fees. People where therefore happy to pay the minimum US$10,000 to buy a 100 x 100 pixel block as they perceived the money as going to a good cause.
- The web page is very interesting to look at. When looking at the page you find yourself staring into it, much like you would when looking at a Where's Wally? diagram.