Toast - Series 5: Freeserve

About this episode

<p>Freeserve rapidly became the UK's number one internet service provider within months of its launch in 1998, yet the brand disappeared almost as quickly. So, what happened? </p><p>The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, investigates. </p><p>Alongside him is the entrepreneur, Sam White, who at the end of the show has to reach her own conclusions, based only on what she has heard and her own business acumen.</p><p>Sean and Sam hear from expert guests including:</p><p>- Rory Cellan-Jones OBE - the BBC's former technology correspondent who covered Freeserve's rise and later dedicated a chapter to it in his book 'Dot Bomb - the Rise and Fall of Dot Com Britain'.</p><p>- Ajaz Ahmed - a 'Freeserve founder' who badgered bosses to start an ISP while working as a store manager at PC World in Leeds. He later became Freeserve's Business Development Manager.</p><p>- Mark Danby - a former Chief Operating Officer at Freeserve.</p><p>Produced by Jon Douglas, Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.</p><p>You can email the programme at <a href="mailto:toast@bbc.co.uk">toast@bbc.co.uk</a></p><p>Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.</p>