The company was founded in 2004 by two Australian entrepreneurs, Bardia Housman and Adam Broadway.

[1][2][3] Business Catalyst's business model differed from others in that they allowed web designers to resell their hosted service as part of a "Partner Program".

[4] A reseller channel of paid "Partners" received specialized tools for site provisioning and management, commissions on hosting fees, live training and in some instances ability to rebrand the platform as their own.

Business Catalyst experimented with a direct-to-customer strategy under the “GoodBarry”[5] brand before the offering was closed down as a part of the Adobe acquisition.

The Business Catalyst platform incorporated features including:[6]