SmarterKids.com spent its first four years making CD-ROM games for children, then threw that business out. In 1998 it turned into an online store for educational toys, books and software, sorted by a child's age and the skills a parent wanted to build. The website launched in November 1998. A year later, with parents flocking to buy holiday gifts online, the Needham, Massachusetts company went public.

From CD-ROMs to a Catalog

SmarterKids.com was incorporated in 1994, and Jeff Pucci, its co-founder, served as chairman. Until March 1998 the company developed and sold its own educational CD-ROM software. Then it began moving to online sales of other companies' learning products. It planned to add child assessment tools and educational content so parents could find the right products for each child. The bet was that parents would pay for a store that understood learning.

Merging to Survive

SmarterKids.com sold 4.5 million shares at $14 each in November 1999, raising $63 million, and listed on Nasdaq as SKDS. The dot-com crash in 2000 dried up money for online retailers that were still losing it. In 2001 SmarterKids.com combined with Earlychildhood, a seller of supplies to preschools and teachers, under a new holding company called LearningStar. SmarterKids.com stockholders received shares in the new company.

Cover: The Village School Scene (Terakoya), from the series "Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy", Utagawa Sadahide. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a village schoolroom (children learning).