WebSideStory

WebSideStory originally launched with a SaaS business model, charging customers a monthly fee for web analytics, but finding customers willing to pay for web analytics proved difficult. WebSideStory then pivoted to offer a limited version of the analytics product for free in exchange for a small advertising banner on each website. Users who clicked the banners were directed to a list of top sites owned by WebSideStory, creating an advertising revenue opportunity. Unlike many late '90s Internet startups, WebSideStory did not raise angel funding or venture capital, but became profitable through customers and by displaying banners on their top site list.

In late 1999, WebSideStory opted to target larger brick-and-mortar businesses as customers for their Hitbox product. Customers opted to pay for more in-depth statistics in exchange for removing the traditional Hitbox banner from their websites, giving birth to the "HBX" product line. Once WebSideStory was financially sound, it shuttered the free version of Hitbox and its associated advertising revenues. The company went public in 2004 and eventually purchased Visual Sciences, adopting their name. Visual Sciences was in turn acquired by Omniture in 2008, and then in October 2009 Omniture was acquired again by Adobe Systems, and integrated into the Adobe Marketing Cloud.[7]