CNN Money is reporting that the internet might be at a stage of another dot-com book, with the top tech stocks now gaining ground again after the dot-com crash. According to the book, now 10 years after two key events in the history of the Internet are the successful IPO of Netscape (which many cite as the beginning of Wall Street's love affair with net stocks) and the founding of Yahoo! We're in the midst of a new, let's say mini dot-com boom. Now that is something even I can stand up and say YAHOO about!
Now I'm not going to go crazy at the first bit of light shinning down the dark tunnel, but I may look into starting up another business. I was still finishing up college when round 1 of the dot-com boom was well underway. It drove me nuts racking my brain thinking of how I could profit and be one of the latest 20 something year old dot-com millionaires. The Napster thing I saw coming, but was beat to the punch. There were also some other tech ideas that I was working on, but then later kicked myself for not going about it the right way that someone else did and watched them cash in on it. So this time around I'm determined to get my hand in the pot of good luck and good fortune. If anything I have learned from the dot-com bust in the past and I won't be one of the guys that goes for gold and then comes crashing down harder than "insert just about any tech company name here".
I was lucky enough to land a position fresh out of school in one of the tech companies that were booming. It was the #1 tech company in the city, headquartered right where I already lived and had branches around the world. The 4 men that started the company came from CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) and became multi-millionaires almost overnight. In my first year I went from working in a cube up to a rather plush office of my own. My job title would vary and before I knew it I found myself running big meetings, having new responsibilities and even getting to do a little hiring and firing (which of course I hated to do the firing). Sadly though, the ride would be short lived due to the fact that I was entering the workforce at a time when the tech world was already on it's way out. The point is, it was the best of times and the worst of times for techies then. For the last decade you have seen everyone in that industry struggle with layoffs and some even going bankrupt...which by the way only happens if you don't grasp the fact that what goes up, must come down - sooner or later.
So with that said, I have learned. I'm not sure I would trust alot of these stock brokers with my cash. I worked long and hard for the money, so in some ways it almost seems foolish to hand it over and allow them to "gamble" with it. Really, that is all investing in the stock market is - a gamble. Of course we all need an investment firm, it's just picking the right one and praying for the best possible outcome. I've seen too many family and friends lose $100,000+ in the stock market and I would be sick if that happened to me. Therefore, I am going to play it a little safer and take advantage of this next possible dot-com boom, but still learn from other's past mistakes and keep in mind that not every cloud always has a silver lining. Unlike some, I know that what goes up must come down. Let's just hope you don't see any of my businesses listed on the www.fuckedcomany.com website. Remember if you get rich off the next dot-com boom, you know you heard about it coming first, here on my blog. ;)
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