e-dreams: A Film by Wonsuk Chin

..A Film By Wonsuk Chin




	Joseph Park, Kozmo CEO and Co-Founder
		"I don't really care where I work. All I need is a laptop with an Internet connection and my cell phone and I'm ready to conquer the world."
	A graduate of New York University, Joseph Park was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs for three years, working on taking Internet companies public until he realized that he was on the wrong side of the table. As the story goes, Park came up with the idea of Kozmo in between a set of incline bench presses and after an unpleasant customer experience at Amazon.com ordering the latest John Grisham thriller. In July 1997, Park left Goldman to start Kozmo.com and set up shop in an East Village warehouse. Two and a half years later, the company was operating in ten cities and had nabbed over $150 million in capital from investors including Amazon.com, Flatiron Partners and Starbucks Coffee. In July 2000, Park stepped down as CEO and from the day-to-day activities of the company.

	Yong Kang, Kozmo President and Co-Founder
		"From what we've heard from our analysts, this [Kozmo] should be a huge IPO. But, you never know. Investors are fickle. One day, they'll be like, 'No more Internet!"
	After graduating from NYU and rooming with Joe Park his freshman year, Yong worked in investment banking for three years until the concept of Kozmo was brought to his attention. After months of preliminary work and analysis into the potential venture, Kang took the plunge and joined Kozmo.com in 1997. Before stepping down as president in July 2000, Kang held the financial reins of the company from its infancy to maturity and forged partnerships with Amazon.com, Columbia TriStar, and Starbucks Coffee. While Park was widely considered the face of Kozmo, Yong was a key player behind-the-scenes.

	Supporting Cast

	Gerry Burdo, Chief Financial Officer
		Before working at Kozmo, Gerry was a principal financial officer at furniture retailer Ethan Allen. He was recruited in November 1999 to be Kozmo's chief financial officer to prepare the company financially to make its initial public offering (IPO). After founder Joseph Park stepped down in July 2000, Burdo became the company's Chief Executive Officer.

	Christian Cabanero, VP of Technology
		Christian spent a year at Andersen Consulting as a technology analyst and was sold on the Kozmo.com concept after meeting the co-founders in 1997. Cabanero later went on to head the Web Development department of the company and lead the website through database migrations, site redesigns and national expansion.

	Iana Hansen, Director of Operations
		. As Kozmo employee #4, Iana has seen all phases of the company’s development and spent time in virtually every spoke (warehouse) in the country, training new employees and fulfilling the company’s promise of one-hour delivery.

	Jonathan Landau, VP of Marketing .
		Jonathan joined Kozmo in November 1998 to build the company's marketing department. The following year, he launched the company’s first expansion city, Seattle and moved on later to work in the Merchandising group. He is widely known as the architect behind the sleek orange-and-green Kozmo brand and its popular "running man" logo. Landau left the company in January 2001.

	Kenneth Li, Reporter, The Industry Standard
		. Kenneth Li is a graduate of New York University and has worked at the New York Daily News and The Industry Standard as a technology journalist.

	Howard Schultz, Chief Executive Officer, Starbucks Coffee .
		Howard Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982 when there were only four stores and is known for his role in developing the company's brand image. Starbucks scrapped plans for a web portal in 1999 and opted for a conservative Internet strategy under Schultz, which included the 5-year, $150 million dollar deal with Kozmo. In June 2000, Schultz assumed a new role as chief global strategist to guide the company’s international expansion.

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