---
title: Paul Graham on Viaweb
teaser:
tags: playbook,design,web
author: []
published_on: 2011-08-12
---

> We knew that e-commerce was really about graphic design, not transaction
> processing. Unless you had a site that could convince people to buy, you didn't
> have a transaction to process, and what convinced people to buy was how good
> the site looked.
>
> We didn't even process credit card transactions
> till about 2 years in. We would just forward the order to the merchant, and
> they'd process it like a phone order.

-- Paul Graham, answering the question, "Why did users like Viaweb?"

[Founders at Work](http://www.foundersatwork.com): Stories of Startups' Early
Days (Kindle Locations 3715-3723).