Nine lessons from the first Internet bubble

[ilamont]

http://thestandard.com/news/2008/05/27/lessons-i-learned-first-bubble

[erickhill]

"5. Just because people can shop on the Internet, that doesn't mean that they will." This applies to nearly every online app.

[jakewolf → erickhill]

Don't like the Webvan example. NYC shops on Fresh Direct. More of a lesson in timing. How many failed ideas from the last bubble are now viable businesses now?

[PieSquared → erickhill]

Well, except in this example, many actually will.

Amazon and eBay aren't doing so badly, eh? Although they're hardly the standard for online stores, I suppose.

[xirium]

From the article: Don't hire quickly to deal with growth that may not happen, and make sure that your existing staff are used effectively.

I heard the one startup spent one round of funding buying Aeron chairs. The number of chairs was taken as indicator of the founders' certainty in the venture and this led to a larger round of investment. Antics like this led to the Aeron chair ratio for failed startups. Apparently, some failed startups had more 10 Aeron chairs for every employee.