After the dot-com collapse, the amount of seed money available to Internet-based entrepreneurs seemed to have dried up.  Now, 5 years later, things are starting to pick back up.  But have companies learned lessons? The article linked below at CNET reports that many investors are moving a bit more slowly with a bit more caution.

I can recall back in 1999 visiting the start-up Neoplanet.  They had received something like $40 million in venture capital funding to make a skinnable browser. Their interest was in acquire Stardock (or large parts of it).  While there, I just couldn't figure out how they were going to actually generate real revenue that could possibly justify the valuation they claimed so we passed on the offer.  The tech bubble burst and Neoplanet was one of the casualties. 

But there is still no shortage of start-ups that see huge valuations ahead of them if they can just secure that next round of venture capital funding.  If the market is indeed coming back, it will be interesting to see if any lessons were learned.

6,014 views 9 replies
Reply #1 Top
I remember Neoplanets browser. I used it for a short period. Is it really that long ago?
Reply #2 Top
Yeah, I loved their browser back in the day.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #3 Top
Yeah, lots of fraudsters out there just blowing hot air around
without any real contents.

As the old saying;

"If you can't dazzle them with dexterity, baffle them with bullshit."

Reply #4 Top
I thought Neoplanets Browser rocked!, I used it for awhile..had a nice library of skins going...then it disappeared...
Ahh well..
Reply #5 Top

Ah......eFront .... a pinnacle of Internet brilliance...

Reply #6 Top
You need to lose that 'noise' in the background of your avatar, Jafo. It would look a lot better if it was solid white.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #7 Top
I too was a big user of Neoplanet .... The skins really were of high quality and it made using the internet more fun .. even when I was on a dialup connection back then. I even had custom version of the neoplanet browser like the ottawa senators one , lord of the rings one , etc.
Reply #8 Top
For some reason I used to watch Moneyline on CNN back in those days (was probably waiting for the soap-operas to start on CNE (Chinese News and Entertainment), which where broadcast in the middle of the night (China being on the other side of the world)).

Quite interesting how the stocks of sky castle companies used to soar until the plummet started. I can remember thinking "Where do they get their funding from? They're not selling anything, nor will they for the first six months and already they have a big office building and dozens on staff".
Reply #9 Top
The problem with the dotcom boom this time is that, instead of banner ads, we're going to have spyware.