How iVillage evolved

iVillage was not the start. In fact, it is the culmination of several initiatives the duo have undertaken in developing their web business: 'Initially, we thought our venture would be aimed at the baby boomer age group and a generation that Nancy and I had been marketing to for a long time. We understood them intuitively, besides being them as well.'

That first initiative, and one that remains part of the iVillage tapestry, was Parent Soup, a site aimed at those raising children. This reflected the women's near-obsession with perfecting a product reflective of their audience and this is without doubt a crucial factor in the successful development of iVillage. However, one thing their experience of the media industry had taught them - with its love of ratings - was the value of market research and user feedback. 'It was about a year into the business that we found that disproportionately women, who made up just 8 percent of the web, flocked to iVillage,' says Carpenter. 'We thought this was interesting because this was the group that was probably getting the least from the internet.'

They dug deeper into the statistics. 'Women were starting businesses at twice the national average, women employed more people than the Fortune 500, women own more brokerage accounts,' recalls Carpenter. 'These were new developments emerging that hadn't really been noticed at the time we were looking at them. But they have certainly been noticed since,' she continues, with a nod towards the plethora of women's sites that have been launched in recent months.

'We realized that here was this phenomenon happening outside of the mainstream internet - but that the internet could actually be quite powerful in helping women manage these things in their lives.

'We felt that what had started as the Women's Movement was done, and now they were left with infinite opportunities and choices.'

Carpenter gives the example of women's magazines putting a glamorous figure on the front and expecting their readers to aspire to that image. 'It's not relevant to women's lives today,' she asserts. 'For example, Nancy's married with one child, I'm single with one child, and one adopted child, so already we have divergent paths. And if you multiply that out, there's already no consensus way to live your life.'

Thus the iVillage premise emerged. With women being offered more opportunities and choices than ever before, they were using this to transform the business market, the job market and the culture of the family. The internet could provide the perfect answer to helping women meet these new challenges and opportunities.

The internet could provide the perfect answer to helping women meet these new challenges and opportunities

Evans and Carpenter admit that iVillage emerged out of a 'process of elimination' following on from other roles they had experienced. Before iVillage, Evans created Family Life magazine, a move which topped 15 years in publishing. She was the winner of the 1989 Women in Communications Matrix Award for Excellence in Book Publishing.

Carpenter's managerial career began at American Express, where she held the position of vice-president of consumer marketing. Between 1989 and 1993, she was president of Time Life Video and Television, part of the Time Warner empire, where she oversaw the development of special interest and popular programming. Up until the founding of iVillage, Carpenter was also president of Q2, an upmarket shopping channel.

Evans says that even when they were part of these big organizations, 'We were both starting businesses within the organizations. Once you've done that, it's pretty hard to go back.'