Google's stock crossed the magical $ 600 mark for the first time yesterday and Facebook is riding high on valuations crossing $ 10 Billion by Microsoft. With some of these astronomical figures at the backdrop WSJ wondered yesterday whether another Tech Meltdown is around the corner. Evidence? Consider these five from WSJ:
- The Goofy-named start-up index is back near to its previous high. Examples include Orgoo, Zipidee, Schwag, DanceJam, PlaySpan, ZocDoc, Oboplay and several that end with an "r" trying to copy the success of Flickr (also check Bullshitr). Although a lot of fun has been poked at Web 2.0 bullshit name generation -- Firewheel design has a fairly analytical post describing good and bad Web 2.0 Names. I personally dont know where all this is going.
- Office landlords in Silicon Valley are accepting stock in still-private start-ups in lieu of rent.
- Excessive rise in office perks like free food, gym memberships and in-house massage
- Phenomenal rise in the attendees of Internet-conferences and the look-at-how-cool-we-are freebies distributed there.
- Difficult to sustain businesses e.g. "Web tools to let friends keep track of debts to each other"
While I think there might be some substance in the rising valuations of Google and Facebook the idea of start-up stock for rent and webtools for tracking friends in debt does cause me to gulp in fear. The 2000 meltdown was a nightmare and if more madness continues I would start looking for a quiet safe trench ;). What are your thoughts?
» 2008 Killer Apps - Tools for Managing Multiple Social Networks from TheBizofCoding
Managing scattered online Social Life on multiple Social Networking sites, I sense, will become a Killer App Category 2008. There are several startups now in the "Social Network Aggregation" space and this App Category should divers... [Read More]
Tracked on: January 3, 2008 4:45 AM | Permalink to Trackback