I Want Sarah to Visit:

The captivating story of the mavericks who emerged from the dotcom rubble to found the multi-billion-dollar companies taking the Web into the 21st century.


Everyone has heard the story of the Internet Bubble. Beginning with Netscape's blockbuster IPO in 1996, billions of dollars flowed into Internet startups, and companies with no revenues and shaky business plans earned sky-high valuations on Wall Street. It was the era of paper millionaires, $800 office chairs, and Super Bowl ads for dotcoms that no one had ever heard of. Then in 2000 the Bubble burst, with the Nasdaq losing 75% of its value and hundreds of companies closing up shop. It was all written off to "irrational exuberance," and everyone moved on. Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good is the story of the entrepreneurs who never gave up on the Internet dream.


"Sarah Lacy's very readable book pulls back the veil from the new princes of Web 2.0, and that it is as much about attitude as it is about business."

ANDY KESSLER AUTHOR OF RUNNING MONEY, WALL STREET MEAT, THE END OF MEDICINE

SARAH'S ARCHIVES

August 18th, 2008

Props to My Co-Host

TechTicker has been a bit sparse in August– a combination of slow news, New York going to the Hamptons en masse, and me flitting in-and-out of town on my seemingly-never-ending-yet-only-one-third-done User Generated Book Tour. My TechTicker co-host Aaron Task has had a great month though: He flew to South Korea to interview sitting president Myung-Bak Lee in a Yahoo News exclusive. His clips posted today, and he did a fabulous job.

As you know if you read this regularly, I’m generally obsessed with the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation and the way Web 2.0 platforms have fundamentally changed it from a geographic, financial, and social point of view. That’s why I’ve spent more time out of Silicon Valley this year than I have, well, ever—be it in Tel Aviv or Omaha, Nebraska. While, I do hope that 2009 will be a calmer travel year (and my very patient and understanding TechTicker overlords hope the same) I am planning on a few trips. South Korea and India are two of the top ones on the list, so I devoured these clips and am so proud of Aaron and the TT team for doing such a great job.

I won’t embed all of them here, but please go to TechTicker for more. My two favorites are below. The first is about South Korea’s position as a tech leader—thanks in large part to its amazing broadband infrastructure we all hear so much about in the Valley. (And drool when we hear about it.) The second is about the two Koreas and when they will ever unite. I thought Aaron did a pitch perfect job of bringing up the emotional significance of this for his family (his dad was a Korean war veteran) while not making it about himself. He’s a pro.

Clip #1:

Clip #2:

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SARAH LACY has reported on startups and venture capital in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade. She writes Valley Girl, a biweekly column for BusinessWeek and co-hosts Tech Ticker on Yahoo! Finance. She lives in San Francisco.
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