There are so many things that one could say about Footnote.com. The history website was launched in January 2007. It’s not easy to decide where to start. So, let’s go chronologically. Before there was a site – before there was any content to discuss – there was a set of business practices taking shape. The general idea was an idea of treating customers the way that we like to be treated when we’re customers. From that general idea came a number of specific ideas, one of which is “The Long Runway.”

A “Long Runway” is something that is needed for a comfortable takeoff. It also is a phrase used at Footnote to refer to the practice of giving the customer as much information as possible before making a purchasing decision. We wouldn’t want to rush a heavy plane into the air, or encourage the user to buy without knowing if the thing offered is something that she wants.

I remember a time when a subscription site had a newspaper application. The user might search for “John Galt” and see that there is a hit. Before viewing the newspaper, the user had to subscribe to the publication, something costing roughly $50. After clearing that hurdle, the user would find that the words “John” and “Galt” are indeed on the document, and within an inch of each other. Unfortunately, they would not be referring to a single person, but perhaps to John McGraw and Willie Galt. It is a classic case of a “short runway.”

Footnote has a “long runway.” Searches in automatic indexes (like those for newspapers) produce results containing “hit highlighting” that shows the context of the hits, and a thumbnail view of the page(link to example search result). Further, the purchase decision doesn’t require an investment of $50 – the user can buy unlimited access for $8 a month, or $1.99 for a single image. Before there was ever a site, Footnote spent a year developing the site and the business practices to make the site represent the philosophy of the site’s founders. One of the tenets of that philosophy is “The Long Runway.”