Ask HN: Best Dotcom Bubble Stories
As we debate whether or not we are in a social media-driven tech bubble or not, it might be fun for those of us who lived through the one 15 years or so ago to post your favorite stories around the excess and lack of success in that era.
6 comments
Here's one from an interview with Chris Sacca (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6NpHbMFaQ8):
In the late 1990s, Chris Sacca used his student loan to start a company within the lawsuit industry - not to pay tuition. But he realized the idea was bad, he didn't have the skills needed, and he didn't have any investors. So before he ran out of money, he began day-trading stocks with the remaining money. This was during the buildup of the tech bubble so he made a huge profit from the trading. When the bubble exploded, his wealth decreased from 12 million to -2.8 million. His surroundings had convinced him that he was a stock market genius - so he thought he knew something. When the stock market crashed, he thought he was just unlucky. He was now 25 years old, no network, and had to find a way to make 2.8 million.
In the late 1990s, Chris Sacca used his student loan to start a company within the lawsuit industry - not to pay tuition. But he realized the idea was bad, he didn't have the skills needed, and he didn't have any investors. So before he ran out of money, he began day-trading stocks with the remaining money. This was during the buildup of the tech bubble so he made a huge profit from the trading. When the bubble exploded, his wealth decreased from 12 million to -2.8 million. His surroundings had convinced him that he was a stock market genius - so he thought he knew something. When the stock market crashed, he thought he was just unlucky. He was now 25 years old, no network, and had to find a way to make 2.8 million.
GovWorks? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GovWorks
They've made a movie too.
They've made a movie too.
One of my favourites is Boo.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com
A list of the top 10 from CNET http://www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6278387-1.html
An interesting item on that list is Flooz:
Flooz was meant to be online currency that would serve as
an alternative to credit cards. It boggles the mind why
anyone would rather use an "online currency" than an actual
credit card, but that didn't stop Flooz from raising a
staggering $35 million from investors and signing up retail
giants such as Tower Records, Barnes & Noble, and
Restoration Hardware.
The CueCat for me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat
The US produced a lot of spectacular rise & fall billionaire stories, but none were greater than the two that Japan produced.
Masayoshi Son, of Softbank, hit a peak of $76 or so billion. Eventually dwindling down to $1.1 billion, a 'loss' of about $75 billion. Don't feel too bad for him though, perhaps fittingly given the discussion of a bubble again, he's back up to $16 billion in net worth and ascending (75% gain in wealth this past year).
Yasumitsu Shigeta was worth $42 billion at the peak of the bubble. Numerically he basically lost it all; what he had left was a rounding error. He was the founder of telecom company Hikari Tsushin. In 1999, he was Japan's youngest billionaire at 34. He's now back to being a billionaire again, 14 years later.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasia/2013/04/03/fifteen-ye...
Masayoshi Son, of Softbank, hit a peak of $76 or so billion. Eventually dwindling down to $1.1 billion, a 'loss' of about $75 billion. Don't feel too bad for him though, perhaps fittingly given the discussion of a bubble again, he's back up to $16 billion in net worth and ascending (75% gain in wealth this past year).
Yasumitsu Shigeta was worth $42 billion at the peak of the bubble. Numerically he basically lost it all; what he had left was a rounding error. He was the founder of telecom company Hikari Tsushin. In 1999, he was Japan's youngest billionaire at 34. He's now back to being a billionaire again, 14 years later.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasia/2013/04/03/fifteen-ye...
My favorite bubble story is Airbnb building a conference room modelled after the War Room in Dr. Strangelove:
http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/workspace-ar...
http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/workspace-ar...