Monte Zweben owned 40 percent of Blue Martini after its IPO, and the company traded under the ticker BLUE. His San Mateo startup sold software that let big retailers and brands sell the same way on a website, a mobile phone or a call center. It was July 2000. Online startups had raised fortunes, and established brands wanted software to sell online themselves.

Two Years to Nasdaq

Blue Martini began in June 1998 as a limited liability company and became a corporation in January 1999. Zweben was its chairman, president and chief executive. The software tracked customers and products across every channel, so a brand could see one shopper whether she used the website, a phone or the call center. The pitch to retailers was to build their brand at every point where customers met them. The company also sold services to install and run the software.

From Nasdaq to JDA

Blue Martini sold 7.5 million shares at $20 in July 2000 and listed on Nasdaq as BLUE. The dot-com crash followed within months. In 2005 Multi-Channel Holdings, a company owned by Golden Gate Capital, bought Blue Martini. It merged with GERS in 2006 to form Escalate Retail. RedPrairie bought Escalate in 2011, and its software ended up supported by JDA Software.

Cover: Still Life, Pieter Claesz. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a glass on a laid table (a blue martini).