Blog 7: Dot Com to Dot Bomb

In last Wednesday’s presentation titled ‘Dot.com to Dot. bomb’, we discussed the period of rapid growth in the stock market for internet-based companies in the late 1990s and the subsequent bust. It also discussed the evolution of technology to our present times. The presentation talked about early online communities like Prodigy and AOL to later ones such as Yahoo and Amazon. The presentation revolved around the boom, the bust, and the current state of technology. 

One of the parts that interested me was the “Insanity” portion of the presentation. It discussed the initial boom in people investing in internet companies without proper reasoning. This led to a lot of start-ups garnering a lot of funding in the initial stages, despite not having good profits or sustainable business. This is why it was called a “bubble”. A lot of companies were valued highly but not prepared for long-term success. Like Pets.com and March 1st, they eventually succumbed to an unstable business plan. However, companies like Vermeer were able to succeed and were acquired by Microsoft for 160 million.

In the final parts of the presentation, “Crawling Back”, it was explained how some companies managed to learn from their mistakes. After the crash, there was a focus on building business and ensuring that they had good bones. Rather than just succumbing to the hype of a bright, shiny new business. 

The presentation highlighted why it is important to have a good plan and how important it is to take your time to ensure you don’t rise too fast and not have anything to fall back on.