It was early 1997 when I started my first site and was shut down by my ISP within two days after Persiankitty listed me. I guess many of us started out that way!
A few weeks later we (myself + two partners) each got one domain and started developing a site to see where it would get us. I was the only one with some success, so eventually we parted ways and I continued by myself.
My first sponsor was CE. There was also some other sponsor, I remember the site had a "medical theme" with nurses (sexclinic or something like that?).
Things started to take off when I became a YNOT member, and moved to my own server with AboveNet.
I have never had lunch or dinner with Serge, although I did meet him once (for a few minutes).
Greetings,
Art