Many
thousands of people moved to the Bay Area, California, during the late 1990's in search of stock-option gold.
Some
of them struck it rich, while others pinned hopes on stock options that never panned out,
but would simply switch jobs (as a prospector might have moved to a different
hill and staked out a new "claim").
Now,
they are starting to give up. Disillusioned with the demise of most of the
dot-bombs, many of the dot-com companies these young professionals (most
20 - 34) went to work for became "dot-bombs" because they built their business hopes
around a wild idea, with no business plan of any substance. In addition,
many of the dot-bombs fueled false hopes by
convincing venture capitalists to part with billions of dollars (perhaps a form
of neurotic greed), but then threw lavish "going-public" parties,
complete with rock stars in Las Vegas. Or they blew millions of dollars on
ineffective advertising, an example being those nifty commercials during the Super
Bowl during 2000/2001.
The
young people who worked for these dysfunctional companies are now giving up their dreams, and going home. Yeah, now they'll
have to wear a tie to work. Perhaps they won't have a foosball
or pinball machine
in their break-room. Maybe they'll learn something from their experiences,
too.
One
lesson could be altering of lifestyle values -- understanding that the almighty
dollar is not equal to happiness or a satisfactory career.
I received a networking email this week, where one of the networking events
listed was an announcement of a "pink-slip party" here in the Bay
Area. I suppose the idea would be to commiserate with other folks who have
been laid-off from their dot-bomb company.
Unemployment checks aren't
fulfillment of stock options. And most debts, at some point, have to be
paid. The majority of dot-com companies with over $5 Million in venture
capital money are now on the brink of folding their tents and going home, if
they haven't already.
"A lot of young professionals are leaving because they are disillusioned,''
said Linda Flores, owner of Specialized Transportation and Systems, a moving
firm based in Livermore. Destination cities: Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas.
(source: San Jose Mercury News)
At
the time I launched AspireNow, I remember many people saying how they were
working hard at their start-up company with plans to "pay-the-piper" for five years or
so, then retire.
This pay-now for reward-later strategy was employed by thousands of young
people working in high-tech companies outside of Silicon Valley, too. They worked round the clock, sacrificing
family events, such as funerals, weddings, and dinner engagements with their
friends (mostly, the people who they didn't work with).
I can recall chiding a few of my friends, who were blinded by their dot-com
gold-rush neurosis, that they lost touch with reality when they blew off
dinner plans with me to go to a last-minute-arranged dot-com event to be the
good company soldier. So many people made sacrifices like that,
losing touch with the valuable things in life. Now, many of these folks
are going back where they came from, empty handed and burdened with thousands of
dollars in debt.
Isn't the growing "cocoon-like" society we live in enough of a
challenge to a social life?
The word disillusion has special meaning to these folks. If only they
could have seen it coming. The "illusion" of the dot-com
explosion was that there was an unlimited source of venture capital money being
dumped generously into the pockets of companies who were so busy they "had
no time to write a business plan" (I read this type of statement by no less
than five CEOs of dot-com start-ups during 1999 to early 2000).
No
wonder the companies failed. They paid for insanely expensive parties (can
we say huge ego here?), some costing as much as $20 Million of the $60 million cash
the company had raised. They hired stars to promote their company during
the Super Bowl (as if this one-time event would make-or-break their
company). In retrospect, their ads broke them. Now, companies are
having to tighten their belts and actually prove their business viability.
Perhaps
viable, in this case, should mean VALUABLE! If you don't need something,
it will eventually go away. This is a rule of nature. Many of these
companies simply weren't needed and really weren't valuable. Exceptions
are the companies still around, such as Brocade, and Netscape (as part of
AOL).
If
I need pet food or kitty litter, I don't buy it over the internet. If I
did, I'd be risking either starving my cat or having her poop in one of my
houseplants, because my experience with internet deliveries for pet supplies
sucked (2 days or longer delivery times).
Some
products might sell over the internet, but I still believe the best product the
internet offers us is INFORMATION. That is why the internet is a natural
home for AspireNow. AspireNow is highly focused on providing helpful
information, thus, the reason I believe there is a model for long-term success
in the future for this company. Whether or not there is a demand for community
at AspireNow remains to be seen. I've also done some business modeling to
see what my competitors are doing and see how other information companies have
been successful.
When
I founded AspireNow, I didn't do it on a whim. And, I knew it would
require money - my money - to start and do it right. But, I also knew that
I didn't have to have $30 Million in venture funding to launch a website (in
fact, getting that kind of venture money would have required giving up control
to key elements of the AspireNow manifesto, which I wasn't willing to do).
So, I wrote a business plan. Dick Boren, Vice President for Instantis,
used to have a couple of sayings when he was my manager at Businessland.
Dick used to say, "Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail." He also said,
"Plan your work, Work your Plan."
The
good news for the disillusioned dot-bomb workers is that they now have an
excellent opportunity to learn from their lesson. What value did they
receive from their experiences? It's like the Buddhists like to say,
"right thought, right speech, right action." If you do not think
in a way that leads to clarity in purpose, leadership, and success, then
you likely won't make it. It all starts inside.
Yes, a small percentage of people got in early and made bundles (such as with
Netscape, or Yahoo), but most of those companies provided real value and are
still, in some form, in business today. Also, one could easily argue that
driving around in a Porsche or living in Los Altos hills is not a true barometer
of success. Those people are not necessarily happy, even though they made
bundles of money by being in the right place at the right time. After all,
John Sutter, founder of the California gold rush of the mid-1800's, died broke.
So, to me, thinking right is about adding
value, empowering others more, enriching others' lives, and doing
something different. It isn't easy to come up with new ideas, but if you
think of something you'd like to have which doesn't exist today, you're
possibly onto something.
Perhaps,
the dot-bomb CEOs, managers, and employees can take the time to revisit their
values, and map their goals
to their values. If working 24x7 for a company truly matches those
values, well, then have at it. Otherwise, perhaps we can be more realistic
to living a balanced lifestyle.
Starting
a business is fun, but also hard work, and being successful requires delivering outstanding products,
excellent service, and consistent execution to turn revenue growth into real
profit. If there is value in a company, success invariably follows.
The model I use for value is:
V=D+Q+T
value = demand (for product/service) + quality (performance and support) + timeliness
(there when needed)
In
working passionately for something we love, and building upon passion in really
doing what we want, we build the opportunity for value to grow.
Scott
Andrews is CEO and Founder of AspireNow (www.AspireNow.com),
a leading business productivity and personal development firm based in
California. AspireNow helps organizations launch new products and
services, maximize sales, and innovatively change businesses through
cutting-edge and empowering business models and processes. For more
information, contact Scott@AspireNow.com,
or visit http://www.AspireNow.com.
