
Michael Arrington: Silicon Valley Could Use A Downturn Right Now - reitzensteinm
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/22/silicon-valley-could-use-a-downturn-right-about-now/
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far33d
Sure, there's a lot of hype and excitement out there. But to call it a bubble
is somewhat misleading. The biggest deals happening right now wouldn't even
warrant a sidebar mention in the web 1.0 boom. Niche retail sites were getting
$60m rounds, regularly. Companies with huge losses were going public with
valuations over $1B.

Now Arrington is calling it a bubble because companies are getting $7m first
rounds? Sure, there's a lot of hype and a lot of these companies will go
nowhere, but from hype and exuberance grows innovation.

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staunch
His position makes him an ant under a magnified glass, not surprising that
he's getting burned out. But this has less to do with The Silicon Valley than
with Mike himself. The increase in startup activity is also making him filthy
rich, so I have trouble mustering much sympathy.

His post was pretty thoughtless. I was going to eat fish tonight, but thanks
to him I'm having a big juicy burger. I'm gaining weight because _he's_
depressed!

~~~
zemaj
"I was going to eat fish tonight, but thanks to him I'm having a big juicy
burger. I'm gaining weight because he's depressed!"

Best. Comment. Evar. :)

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danielha
There's some extensive hype here. If you find yourself floating around in the
same circles, that hype is being spread and regurgitated to you time and time
again. You'd be living in your own personal bubble, shielded from the
realities of non-SV people. A lot of this hype gets people excited and allows
new things to happen; and those with their head on their shoulders will be
able to see past hype and see a successful outcome for themselves.

~~~
jamiequint
Peter Drucker echoes this sentiment in "The Effective Executive" when he says
that one of the realities the executive must learn to deal with is the fact
that he is "within the organization" (In this case Silicon Valley). I totally
agree.

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russ
I agree that it's getting a little "bubbly" around here.

~~~
sethjohn
I'm no expert on this, but isn't the conventional wisdom that this time around
the economic factors are much more solid. There is a much more revenue being
generated, simply because by now people are making a lot of $$ of purchases on
the internet.

Just because people are selling companies and there's a lot of money floating
around doesn't mean it's neccessarily a bubble...maybe it's just good
business.

~~~
omouse
It's the hype that makes everything seem bubbly. It's quite annoying for a lot
of people which is why <http://www.uncov.com/> and many other rants about it
exist: to take the hype down a peg or two.

~~~
far33d
No. Uncov exists because the easiest way to get eyeballs without any real
insight is to ride someone else's wave. Ranting is easy.

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wschroter
I'm having a really hard time figuring out why any of what Mike said is a bad
thing.

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vlad
Unfortunately, the only true, actionable message one can get from this post is
that crying to him on the phone works every time, and I don't think that's the
message he wanted to send!

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tx
Don't you all think that we are seeing (softly speaking) too many companies
whith 100% ad-sponsored business plans? Let's not forget that advertizement
market consists of (surprise!) dollars that someone (users, maybe?) need to
_spend_ on something real.

And there is only finite percentage of $$$ that Canon (for instance) is
willing to share with you for each digital camera sold.

Unless someone shows me digits from reputable source that suggest an
unbelievable growth of advertizement market...

~~~
aston
"Unless someone shows me digits from reputable source that suggest an
unbelievable growth of advertizement market..." (sic)

Have you been watching Google's quarterly earnings?

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rms
Poor Michael Arrington... his life is just so hard right now.

~~~
brlewis
There's some truth to that. Money can't buy you good interactions with people.

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sabat
Dear Mr. Michael Arrington,

You were successful only because you were lucky enough to be in the right
place at the right time. Try to have some empathy for those of us who can't
pay cash for a house in Woodside (~$3 million).

In other words, BITE ME.

~~~
sabat
To whoever just down-voted me for my comment: it was worth it just to tell
Arrington to bite me.

