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1999
August CafePress.com opens for business from a San Leandro, California garage; the company started with just four products — a t-shirt, two mugs and a mouse pad
August Kill pop radio! First order ships — it's a white t-shirt with www.killpopradio.com emblazoned on the front
October CafePress.com comes to life, incorporates. The company was founded following an aggressive outbound email campaign that targeted 100 new Web sites each day; a surprising 20 percent response rate started the viral momentum and within 15 days, CafePress.com was receiving up to five thank you emails per day... and the business was born
November CafePress.com has gone to the dogs! Charlie the Cocker Spaniel joins CafePress.com, starting a trend that would mark the company as a dog-friendly place to work
December There must be angels; CafePress.com receives start up funding
2000
January Company focuses on signing deals with large community Web sites; in January of 2000, deals were arranged with leading companies including NBC Internet, MP3.com and Advance Internet
March CafePress.com secures Series A venture funding
March Thomas Toy, Managing Director and Co-founder of PacRim Venture Partners, joins the CafePress.com Board of Directors; from 1987 to 1999, he was at Technology Funding, a professional venture capital firm focused on information technology and life sciences companies
April Out of the garage and into an office; CafePress.com moves the company to Hayward, California
September CafePress.com changes gears; due to popular demand, there was a natural shift in focus from large community sites to affinity marketing and larger brands
October Politics heats up! "Sore Loserman" political merchandise boosts sales
December What a year! By the end of 2000, CafePress.com signed agreements with United Media/Dilbert.com, Electronic Arts/Origin Systems, Women.com, and Salon.com
2001
January CafePress.com growth spurt continues. Company relocates corporate headquarters to San Leandro, California
March In the black! CafePress.com reaches profitability; this at a time when the fall of the tech sector wreaks havoc on the economy
July CafePress.com wins coveted award; the people speak and declare CafePress.com the winner of the Webby People's Voice Award
August CafePress.com offers customers more; product line expands to 19 items
September Nationwide outpouring of patriotism in support of the September 11 attacks leads to grassroots uprising; sales profits from shopkeeper's across the country resulted in more than $30K being donated to the American Red Cross
December So long, Java. CafePress.com switches from a Java based platform to Microsoft's .Net platform and is one of the first commercial Web sites to do so
2002
March Still a fashion staple, the white t-shirt continues to be the most popular product offered through CafePress.com
July 300,000th CafePress.com shop opened
August CafePress.com announces Premium Shops service
October Customers can now personalize over 60 different products through CafePress.com
December Notable clients in 2002 include Tribune Media, National Review, and Craigslist.org
2003
January CafePress.com goes Hollywood; Phil Collins, Jet Li and Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Lipinski launch online stores through CafePress.com
February Bursting at the seams. CafePress.com moves to larger offices in San Leandro
March CafePress.com launches retail-ready audio and data CD experience
April Grains of Sand is the first CD published through CafePress.com
April 500,000th CafePress.com shop opens
October CafePress.com joins Shop.org, the network for retailers online
November Freedom from the print press! Now, anyone can become an author using the self-publishing print-on-demand service from CafePress.com; first book published is From Bat to Verse
December The millionth member joins CafePress.com
2004
January CafePress.com doubles in size; more than 150 employees now see green in their future
May CafePress.com launches dynamic retail experience, providing consumers with even more shopping flexibility through the CafePress.com Marketplace
May Steve Blank joins the CafePress.com Board of Directors; over the last 25 years, Blank has been part of, or co-founded eight Silicon Valley startups, including enterprise software company E.piphany
May Philip Monego joins the CafePress.com Board of Directors; throughout the 30 years he has spent in the technology industry, Monego has served as a founder, chief executive, senior executive and investor in more than a dozen companies including Yahoo Inc. where he was the company's first chairman and CEO
June CafePress.com announces Create & Buy service
July Non-partisan CafePress.com announces Politics Portal featuring merchandise for everyone — whether you're left, right or center
July CafePress.com moves to expanded production facility in Hayward, California
August Customers love the Politics Portal! The top 100 bumper stickers for the last three months are all political in nature; Firefighters supports George Bush takes the lead
September Revenues rise 30 percent within four months following the launch of the CafePress.com Marketplace, a dynamic online retail shopping experience
September Bush or Kerry? Sales of politically themed merchandise jump 300 percent in two months, compared to the first six months of the year; JibJab's "Bush/Kerry Pals" is the top selling t-shirt
October Nearly 50,000 Premium Shops have opened in just over two years
October CafePress.com celebrates five years; company now offers an expanded product line of over 70 items
November Another contentious election ends. "W is for Winners" t-shirts help the winners express their joy while "Sorry Everybody" reflects the pain of the losers
2005
January CafePress.com receives Series B venture funding
January Doug Leone, a partner at Silicon Valley based Sequoia Capital since 1988, joins the CafePress.com Board of Directors
May CafePress.com wins Webby in the retail category
June AlwaysOn names CafePress.com amongst the top 100 Top Private Companies for 2005
June Mehdi Maghsoodnia joins CafePress.com as Vice President of Product Development
July CafePress.com and Stamps.com announce a partnership that brings Custom Postage to the CafePress Marketplace
August CafePress.com opens a second production facility in Louisville, Kentucky
August Bob Marino joins CafePress.com as Vice President of Operations
August The Flying Spaghetti Monster makes a Big Bang as an Internet phenomenon. FSM gathers fans if not believers in a survival of the wittiest alternative to Darwin's Theory of Evolution and faith-based Intelligent Design.
August CafePress.com moves its corporate headquarters from San Leandro to Foster City, California
August CafePress.com and Charles M. Schulz Associates mark the Peanut Gang's 55th Anniversary year with a Specialty Merchandise Shop featuring vintage Peanuts artwork
October The CafePress Affiliate Program is launched, offering Shopkeepers, webmasters and bloggers a new means to monetize their sites
November CafePress begins offering Black T-Shirts answering the number one Shopkeeper request
December CafePress ends the year with a record catalog count of 22 million unique products
2006
February CafePress runs its first annual Anti-Valentine's Day design and sales contest
February Proof that the T-Shirt economy closely follows the news is verified after the Dick Cheney shooting incident inspires hundreds of unique designs on thousands of products
March CafePress launches TopicAds, an innovative, tag-based and topic relevant form of online advertising
May CafePress and Squidoo.com partner to leverage the promotional and selling power of their passionate, creative communities
May CafePress and Babylon5scripts.com announce halfway point of 14 volume Publishing-On-Demand project with projected $1.5 million in gross sales
