Linden Lab is the creator and organization behind Second Life. Linden Lab is based in San Francisco, USA. The name is a reference to the first location of the company: Linden Alley in Hayes Valley, USA.
It was founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale the former CTO Real Networks. Since his first contact with the internet, Philip Rosedale had the vision to create a simple, easy to use 3D simulation of the real world. His experience with streaming technology from companies like Free Vue and Real Video were very helpful. 2001 Linden Lab started with the budget of 1 Mio. US Dollar.
Further milestones in the development of Linden Lab were:
> October 2002: first public beta test of Second Life
> June 2003: Second Life goes life
> April 2003: Mitch Kapor becomes a partner and board member
By the end of 2003 the economic success did not meet the expectations. Linden Lab decided to modify the business model. Besides the revenues through memberships, Linden Lab introduced the virtual currency Linden Dollar. With the possibility to trade US Dollars for Linden Dollars and vice versa, virtual and existing worlds connected. Second Life became an element of the real economy.
Linden Labs
The trading rate of L$ and US$ was stabile and Second Life shifted into next gear. It did not take long, and Second Life attracted interest of investors like Omidyar Network and Jeff Bezos, CEO von Amazon.com.
Today main revenue generators are membership and fees from the trade of currencies and for buying / selling land and islands. It would not surprise, if Linden Labs adapts the business model of Second Life to the fast changing market soon.