Science fiction, fantasy, & horror - web design, graphic design, interactive media development by greententacles
2008-11-21 GMT
Science fiction, fantasy, & horror - web design, graphic design, interactive media development by greententacles
2008-11-21 GMT
The sky-high valuations of most Internet and technology companies, boosted by hype and fueled by investor feeding frenzies, have come crashing down.
The media personalities and nexuses that gleefully trumpeted the New Net Economy are ecstatically reporting on the crash and the coming Internet Depression.
Bad news sells rather better than good news, at least in their philosophical books, and pundits around the Net are eagerly awaiting the Great Net Implosion, when corporate sites vaporize amid million-dollar-a-day burn rates.
Yet in the rush to find the first one-time net millionaire now reduced to living in a cardboard box in L.A., the commentators and reporters are ignoring an ultimately more important trend: small and mid-sized companies are thriving in the 'ruins.'
I see it everywhere.
None of these companies comes close to showing up on the national radar when it comes to 'state of the net' stories. It's unfortunate. Because as Dell posts quarterly short falls, Priceline.com's subsidiaries go out of business, and billions in unearned stock valuations disintegrate, these are the companies that will keep the net growing.
They are not alone.
There are thousands of small businesses in America -- and the world -- who are just now learning to use the Web. They are experimenting with the net slowly (sometimes tediously so), but at the same time they are avoiding the 'grow fast and die' syndrome plaguing many big companies. Some, like Nuketown may be losing money, but if so, it's a burn rate that can be measured in tens of dollars, rather than millions.
The current high-profile problems are merely the bursting of the hype bubble, not the death of the Net. The question analysts should be asking is not why did these Internet companies fail -- anyone with half a brain can see that the model of spending money to lose money can't work -- but rather, what will the net look like after the hype?
They should be looking to the Second Wave -- which is swelling even as we speak. This second wave of businesses will be stronger, leaner and more down-to-earth than their predecessors and, dare I say it, far more profitable.
I see companies like my own co-venture (with partner and Nuketown art director Nathan Lilly), GreenTentacles, thriving in Second Wave. GT's a company that targets a specific niche -- web design and services for speculative fiction businesses -- and that's exactly what I think the most successful companies in this next generation will be doing.
Like us, they'll be ignoring hype to focus on what works. While the world may not watch in awe and fear as our stock rides the NYSE roller coaster, it will be our companies that drive the net, and it will be ours that ultimately define the solidifying realm of cyberspace.