Early in 1993, next door to Prophet’s first office in downtown Palo Alto, there was a computer store. It was kind of a shady place. The guy who owned it wasn’t very honest, and it was clear that he was pretty fast-and-loose with what he sold, how he treated his customers, and how he ran he business. He was basically kind of a scumbag, from what I could gather. He just gave off that vibe.

One day, I saw a man in front of the computer store picketing it. He had a big sign he was carrying that said something like “This store sold me a broken computer and won’t refund my money” or something like that. I honestly don’t remember the sign, but the thrust of it was that this customer was so unhappy with how he was treated that he was actually picketing the place. I’d never seen anything like that, nor have I since. The guy was basically doing what Yelp does, except it required him to march up and down the sidewalk with a homemade sign.