PERSPECTIVES

Web 2.0—Bit of the Bubbly?
by Joanna Kulesa, August 16, 2006

Emboldened by the success of Google and the comeback of online advertising, entrepreneurs and VCs everywhere are looking to get back into the technology “action.” Everywhere there is talk of “Web 2.0,” and high valuations being paid for companies that are basically what we used to call “destination sites” with lots of “stickiness.” Gosh, I’m dating myself. Companies like Digg, Facebook.com, and Xfire are fetching, or being offered, hundreds of millions of dollars by blue chip companies like Viacom and Time Warner. Bubble anyone?

Maybe. Or, maybe not. As a parent of two teenagers, MySpace is the bane of my existence. So, when News Corp. shelled out $580M for the company, I thought, huh? Murdoch paid half a billion dollars for a social networking site for teens? Now, with the recent announcement that Google will pay News Corp. $900M for the right to place ads on MySpace, I am again reminded of why they are where they are and I’m toiling away at my desk, and not lounging at some luxury outpost in the Caribbean year round.

Kidding aside, Silicon Valley is a wonderful place to be, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be a part of it.  I recently returned from a long vacation with my family, and I haven’t the hint of a blue mood coming home to the gorgeous Bay Area to a job where I work with an amazing team, on interesting clients in the most dynamic industry around. The industry is morphing at break-neck speed, and it feels like we are most definitely entering into another big cycle. Will it be boon or bust? Not sure; but I’ll be here watching the excitement from a front row seat.