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 24th, 2008

Valley Girl: Saving the Publishing Industry One Column at a Time

Here’s my latest BusinessWeek column. It started out as a blog post but got longer and longer so I transformed it into a column instead. It’s about how the publishing industry needs to be as transformed by Web 2.0 (aka community, interaction, marketing) as it was by Web 1.0 (aka transactions) if it wants to stay vibrant. (Fitting since I’m in Amazon country today!)

In case it wasn’t clear: I actually had a near-fairy tale experience with Gotham so its not a bitch-fest at all. I just want publishing to stick around as a viable industry! Now, to the next task at hand: My Gnomedex keynote! eeeeek.

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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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