Steve Baldwin, being the Internet's foremost historian of cyber-rot, has unearthed a true gem - a forgotten stream of an October 1997 VC Breakfast
featuring theglobe.com's Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman in their
NYC debut, hosted by our favorite tech journalist, Jason McCabe
Calcanis.
Although Todd and Steph don't come on until about 55 minutes into
the proceedings, you have to listen to Jason's opening statements,
delivered in his "Dead End Kids" patois (and Bill thought his accent
was bad!), which includes a some ridiculous swipes at Forbes magazine
("They don't get it!) and a hilarious routine about his map of Silicon
Alley.
Among the other highlights:
1) Jason's total botching of Todd's and Steph's names ("Todd KrIzelman" and "Stephan PaterNOT")
2) The number of members Todd and Steph claim (The front matter
says 600,000 and Steph quotes 700,000 -- Wow, they must've *really*
been growing fast!)
3) Their business model, based on paid subscriptions (which lasted
about a week), merchandise (A prescient move because globe merch
quickly overtook Nike and Tommy Hilfiger) and advertising (We all know
how this one went).
4) Why they called it "theglobe" ("Well, you see, I'm Eurotrash and Todd's from California. Voila!")
5) Todd's and Steph's presentation itself - scripted, and unwilling
to touch such hot issues like what theglobe actually is ("It's a place
were people go for community and to feel...")
At the very least you've got to hand it to these kids for having such balls.
Do you know of any strange forgotten crap like this? Send it along.
In the meantime, please don't put your fist through your monitor when
listening to the clip.
Name: bill
Email:bill@netslaves.com Date: Wed May 2 22:10:46 2001
Comment: Baldwin just found a great video you Todd and Steph fans will enjoy:
http://www.ibreakfast.com/videos.cfm
Scroll down to March 1999!
Name: zb
Email: Date: Wed May 2 10:25:40 2001
Comment:
MSNBC picked up a Wall Street Journal article. Where are Todd and Steph
now? http://www.msnbc.com/news/567537.asp?0nm=C15T Some great anecdotes
about how they were on top of the world, clubbing in leather pants, and
how they're trying to figure out what to do with their lives now that
they've been squeezed out of theglobe.
Name: steve gilliard
Email:sgilliard@netslaves.com Date: Wed May 2 00:50:10 2001
Comment: Yeah, they've learned when they actually make a profit. Until then, it's just rehab bullshit.
"I'm clean, honest."
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 1 23:54:47 2001
Comment:
>They brag about their failure as if it was a tremendous
accomplishment. With this sort of sick mentality, is it any wonder that
they failed so many companies? These folks actually believed their own
hot air.
The amazing thing to me is that in this 1997 event, Calacanis was
basically saying "look - the unprofessional, roller-blading days are
over. This is serious now - and we're serious too."
Look for this refrain to be a big part of the Next Next New New
whatever that will be coming along soon. People saying "aw - those
ridiculous days are over - we've learned from our mistakes."
Look out, brother.
Name: Eric
Email: Date: Tue May 1 23:32:42 2001
Comment:
The DISH Network satellite network, if you get the DISH 150 package,
runs the Research TV channel out of the University of Washington. They
often have some very interesting techie content on computer science,
engineering, medicine/health, etc. They also run video taped Stanford
University Business School seminars from last year. These are where the
Stanford MBAs get up and explain their incredible Internet businesses.
Funny thing - these seminars are now typically 12 to 18 months old and
most of the kids have since had their firms go belly up. What struck me
was the seeming arrogance - an attitude - of those who live and breathe
this nonsense in Silicon Valley - that they were right and everyone
else was wrong.
But the arrogance continues - I've read that even as many of these
kids blew through hundreds of millions in VC and IPO (shareholder)
funding, they now espouse the theory that their cause was a noble
cause. They brag about their failure as if it was a tremendous
accomplishment. With this sort of sick mentality, is it any wonder that
they failed so many companies? These folks actually believed their own
hot air.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 1 23:19:49 2001
Comment:
whoa - netslaves are capitalists - thank you very much. but thanks for
letting us know we live in a jungle - if it weren't for your
informative note, I'd have thought we were living in a militia
compound.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 1 23:17:00 2001
Comment: Attention all netslaves communists!
Under a communist system, where is the incentive to go the extra
mile and create real wealth that increases everybody's standard of
living? Remember the communist credo: everybody contributes according
to their ability, but only receives compensation according to their
needs. A perfect recipe for apathy and stagnation.
Regarding the woes of your poor "netslaves": the bottom line is
that exploitable people will be exploited. That's the law of the
jungle. It's up to them to take affirmative steps to increase their lot
in life...learn a marketable skill, do a better job negotiating, quit
bitching/whining, and good old-fashioned "elbow grease."
Regarding unions: it is a well-known fact that unions are corrupt
fronts for organized crime. Don't you remember the Teamsters and the
Gambino family?
That was Rare Medium. Another interesting take on yesterday's "cowboy and cardshark" consultant culture.
Name: Email: Date: Tue May 1 15:51:10 2001
Comment: >Thanks for the time-travel back to the age of incredable stupidity.
My favorite wasn't Todd and Steph - it was that Social Science guy.
He laid out what was at stake very clearly - a fat $2 BILLION
"development market" from the big Fortune 100. The idea that his nutty
chat client would be the killer app to link executives, HR depts, and
sales teams is, well - dreamsville, jack.
Name: Teflon
Email: Date: Tue May 1 15:44:24 2001
Comment: Problem was too many trust fund hustlers named Todd and their eurotrash pals.
Name: Bill Volk
Email:bvolk@youworkit.com Date: Tue May 1 14:37:53 2001
Comment: Thanks for the time-travel back to the age of incredable stupidity.
I love the comment that "Silicon Alley Companies are making money"... what BS!
Big dot-com buzz word years ago. Does anyone remember working near the web biz where this word wasn't used?
Maybe that's the bigger reason as to why they failed: most people
(except the geeks) didn't give a rats ass about being a community
member to everything. Maybe.
Name: Carl Guderian
Email:carlg@vermilion-sands.com Date: Tue May 1 08:05:10 2001
Comment: http://www.business2.com/magazine/2000/09/18568.htm
I've got a better one: Alvin Toffler's interview (printed, not
streamed). It's 1994 again. Unions are obsolete. There is no
alternative to frictionless global business. Consumers can be flattered
into thinking they're in control.
Granted, this is Business2.0, so Toffler's pandering to business
more than usual. For a futurist he sure likes to live in the past. He's
a regular Newt Gingrich.
