Ben's Blog

JUNE 28, 2011

Before my partner Marc Andreessen and his friends at the University of Illinois invented the browser in 1993, most people thought only scientists and researchers would use the Internet. The Internet was thought to be too arcane, insecure and slow to meet real business needs. The implications of the propriety vision were not good.

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CTO Internet Illinois Cofounder 74

Mucker Lab

MAY 20, 2013

1999 – “The search engine game is over”. 1999 – “The search engine game is over”. 2002 – “the social network fad is over”. Consumer products and services are hit driven, it’s really hard to build a scalable consumer company”. Evernote, Dropbox). Evernote, Dropbox). Myspace, Facebook). Everything).

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Widget Sales Cycle Social Network Government 76

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2011

In 1999, there were 486 IPOs nationwide; just 10 years later, in 2009, there were only 63. At any rate, it seems only appropriate that social media sites, which have dominated the Internet over the past few years, will likely lead startups back into the IPO game. The market is moving back up, but slowly.

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IPO Social Media Media Exit Strategy 223

Mucker Lab

MAY 21, 2013

1999 – “The search engine game is over”. 1999 – “The search engine game is over”. 2002 – “the social network fad is over”. Consumer products and services are hit driven, it’s really hard to build a scalable consumer company”. Evernote, Dropbox). Evernote, Dropbox). Myspace, Facebook). Everything).

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Widget Sales Cycle Social Network Government 60

Cracking the Code

JUNE 24, 2021

But the Valley in 1999 was a new world of startups, venture capital, and stock options. 1999/2000 was the startup heyday, and I was in the hot space of telecoms – it all looked promising. There were no social networks, let alone sharing economy then, so it took a while to take off. They’re building them for the world.

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Up and Running

MARCH 18, 2013

I answer these same exact same publishing questions every day like it’s 1999. I actually started a book-publishing company in my college dorm room in … 1999. I’ve been publishing books since AOL dial-up internet was in style. That’s why they invented social networking… to promote your own agenda.

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David Teten

JANUARY 8, 2013

Moreover, some investors use social media specifically to reach out to companies flashing relevant “deal signals” in order to filter the universe of companies. These investors are exploiting the wealth of information about private companies available online, increasingly leaked via social media.

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Private Equity Social Media Equity Media 114

Seeing Both Sides

MARCH 18, 2013

In the world of the Internet, deflation viewed as a positive force, leading to massive consumer gains. I've been thinking a lot about deflation and its impact on the Internet economy since reading two articles in two different newspapers this last week. How can we reconcile these two competing beliefs?

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Japan Advertising Internet Video 41

ConversionXL

MAY 31, 2017

Messenger (1998), and MSN/Windows Live Messenger (1999). According to Mary Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends Report , 6 of the world’s top 10 most used apps are messaging apps. billion MAUs for the top four social networks. billion MAUs for the top four social networks. It’s been around since the mid-1990s.

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Lead Generation Channel IP Conversion 91

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

is the leading consumer internet company with Terry Semel as CEO. Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round). link] leehower.

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

In the summer of 1999, I started working on a startup from my college dorm. Id been on the internet since I was playing MUDs as a kid, but by 1999 I felt Id already missed the boat. Could we have built the first college-based social network five years before Facebook ? I pretty much missed all the trends.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

And now all of a sudden you have got this global market of all these early adopters that have smartphones connected to the Internet, and they can just pick up their things and run with them. So it would seem like they are an antidote to, or at least less offensive than, social/consumer Internet companies are to the public markets.

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Software Review Startup Venture Capital Stock 22

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. Of course much of it is conflicting.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. I set up my laptop, connected to the Internet, opened the compulsory 15 page PowerPoint deck and waited for my adoring fans. Folksonomy.

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Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

BeyondVC

JANUARY 22, 2009

  In an old New York Magazine article from 1999 Josh proclaimed that ""The potential for a company like Pseudo is to start from a Website and replicate the success of ABC, NBC, or CBS — a long shot but an enormous payoff."   I hope you enjoy the trailer and more importantly my brother-in-law's music.

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Hockey Stick Web New York Social Network 60

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2010

I believe that this is a major new area of growth & innovation for the Internet as Cloud Services start to form deeper & richer layers. Over the past 5 years the Internet Cloud has started to form into layers and this is a great thing for innovation. Let me explain. I’m just listed who I perceive as the market leaders.

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Cloud Technical Review Database Semantic 343

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Don’t spend like it’s 1999. Creative destruction will continue to create opportunities for people who understand the deflationary economics of the Internet. And Social. Businesses will continue to realize that the Internet is one big information utility and will continue to move operations to the cloud.

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Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305