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get_top10();
$counter = 0;
while ( $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($sth) ) {
if ($counter >= 10) {
break;
}
if ($row["COUNT"] < 2) {
continue;
}
$counter++;
$siteinfo = $util->get_site_info($row["ID"]);
$ratinginfo = $util->getrating($row["ID"]);
?>
"> |
It is June, 2001 and we hear of layoffs, failed Internet startups, lawsuits, bankrupt Venture Capital firms and other signs that the incredible economic growth and innovation attributable to the Internet boom of the mid to late 1990's has finally caught up with reality. But as I watch startup after startup crash and burn, I have to wonder about the lessons we learn from all of this. What can we take away from the past few years?
After a few of the websites I like to visit started putting up notices stating that "due to difficult financial conditions" and their "inability to secure new venture funding," they are taking their websites offline. Some of these "swan songs" are actually horrible to read; some are funny; some actually provide some insight into the failure of the company. But all of these final gasps for air are shortly taken offline as the company enters the final stages of Chapter 11 or Chapter 7 or some other gloomy section of the U.S. tax code.
I have decided to capture these swan songs as a matter of historical interest as well as the obvious entertainment value. I post them on this website not to intentionally ridicule the efforts of the people who ran these companies, but as a reminder of the fragility that supports an economy.
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