Valleywag
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bubble 2.0
The microbubble in microblogging
If there is a Web 2.0 bubble, it is surely in microblogging, a field popularized by Twitter.. Countless startups are thriving on the myth that sharing yourself online is too hard. Pownce cofounder Leah Culver graces the cover of MIT's alumni magazine. San Francisco's most self-involved Webheads can't stop gabbing about FriendFeed, which, as our intern Alaska Miller smartly explained to his mother, is a place where people who are really obsessed with the Internet can talk to others of like mind. And then there's Plurk, the much-mocked Twitter clone, which has drawn such derision that Web hipsters made up a company and claimed it had bought Plurk. More » -
valleyspeak
Five words or phrases to short on the slang stock exchange
CollegeHumor cofounder Ricky Van Veen has decided to short the word "douche."After a strong resurgence in 2005 and showing strong staying power through 2007, lately most of the people I've seen use it fit into two categories: 1) people over 40 who have finally had the word passed down the cool chain from their younger friends and coworkers. 2) the "douches" originally being described themselves.
We second this call. In fact, our own very special correspondent banned douche not long ago. Below, five more words we'd like to see tank. State your portfolio position and suggest other picks in the comments. More » -
bubble 2.0
Are VCs fleeing the Web? Yes and no
Most venture capitalists are adept followers of the herd. As such, their investments are best seen as trailing indicators — the financial detritus of events past, rather than predictors of what to come. Is there a bubble in Web startups? The numbers themselves are as confused as investors. Dow Jones says the first quarter saw a record $1.58 billion in venture capital invested in Internet companies. Thomson Reuters says its figure of $1.3 billion was down 7 percent from the fourth quarter. Data about VC investments is hard to obtain, and the two categorize companies differently. Anecdotally, it's clear that smart VCs have stopped funding every new social-media website and online-ad network that cross their desks. But the Valley remains awash in dumb money that has yet to be called home. The popping of this bubble will take more than a quarter's time. -
bubble 2.0
The recession is here
Attention, Valley of the Heart's Delight: There's bad news in theNew York Times. The bullet points:- Only five venture capital backed companies went public last quarter. 31 turned public in 2007's fourth quarter.
- Only 28 percent of all venture-backed companies that went public last year have shares trading above their IPO level. Usually, that number is around 50 percent.
- Angel investment is flat after growing every year since 2003.
- As the dollar drops, outsourced labor costs more.
- 2007's first three months saw just 56 acquisitions, compared to 83 in the fourth quarter.
- 2008 will see the local economy create 10,000 new jobs, down from 17,700 in 2007 and 25,000 in 2006 — the year Google acquired YouTube.
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bubble 2.0
The bubble to end all bubbles?
Are we in a bubble? Far too late to be asking that question, says Chris Nolan, a former Valley newspaper gossip who now runs a startup, Spot-On. She weighs in on the current market crisis and its effects on the tech business. Her thesis: New regulations will on investment banks will bring an end to the tech-stock bubbles on which Valley VCs have feasted. (I asked if this meant she was back in the tech-gossip game; Nolan's column served as one of this website's inspirations. "I'm writing about business and politics," she demurred.) Nolan compares sketchy mortgages approved by banks to the wafer-thin startups taken public by stockbrokers a decade ago. A brief version of her 887-word argument, followed by my take on where Nolan goes wrong: More »
11:20 AM on Thu Apr 3 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,753 views, 10 commentsLatest by random_play: @FiveStarEggRoll: Harry Wang, you are now my Kiyosaki! Also my horse whisperer and my crime-solving psychic medium. more »
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bubble 2.0
No one has any idea how much Facebook applications are worth
SuperPoke is worth $13 million according to Facebook application tracker Adonomics. The site awards applications like Slide's Top Friends and RockYou's SuperWall values in the tens of millions of dollars — which provides some of the basis for the 9-digit figures that Slide has commanded, and RockYou hopes to get, in venture capitalists' estimates of their worth. Adonomics' numbers are as sketchy as those valuations, however. Facebook's homegrown Video application only has 807 active users, according to Adonomics stats. Something's off here, and I don't think it's just Facebook's $15 billion value. More » -
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bubble 2.0
Jim Breyer times his bubble-popping just right
Fortune magazine, ever servile, provides a ready platform for the powerful with something to say. The latest on stage: Jim Breyer, the Accel Partners VC with a seat on Facebook's board. Breyer has a fair point: We may be seeing the cyclical bursting of another Silicon Valley bubble. Breyer says this happens once every seven years, roughly. But his timing is suspicious. Last October, Breyer gladly took Microsoft's bubbly $240 million for a microscopic stake in Facebook. Declaring the bursting of a bubble now may help hasten its advent, and in the process, make it harder for Facebook's rivals to raise money. But for Fortune readers' tech-stock portfolios, an early warning might have been more useful. Why didn't the magazine ring him up last fall? Fortune never mentions this. (Illustration by Sean McCabe for Fortune) -
bubble 2.0
VMware down 17 percent since IPO
"There is no bubble in technology," said Facebook board member Peter Thiel in December. Tell that to investors who bought into VMware's IPO. [VMW]
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Happy birthday, destroyer of hopes and dreams!
Eight years ago today, on March 10, 2000, the Nasdaq closed at 5,048.62, an all-time high. Then the bubble burst, Marketwatch notes. By October 2002, the Nasdaq was down to 1,114.11, a 78 percent drop in less than three painful years. In fact, we're still not over it. Check out the chart. The Nasdaq today stands 56 percent lower than 2000's bubbly high-water mark.
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bubble 2.0
The 10 most memorable tech Super Bowl ads
Behold the best tech ad in Super Bowl history: Apple's "1984" ad, which cost $1.6 million to make and run, and only aired nationally once. The following nine ads, while perhaps not as iconic, are all fascinating in how they seek to make the mysteries of tech compelling to the masses. More »
Bubble 2.0
San Francisco, 9:57 AM
Sat Nov 22
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