When Silicon Valley awoke to a shudder, creak and a groan, followed at first by a distant rumbling and then the inevitable thunderless crash, people were left wondering what had happened to the companies that had promised so much, and more importantly what had happened to the shares they had purchased in those companies, whose dreams they had shared, the same companies who had paid no dividends, made no profit, and often even had no product. It is no wonder that the crash took place, in the preceding days before its fate was sealed it was like another large section of the Arctic, clinging on to its last desperate days of normality trying to elude its ultimate and eventual fate, in a world where miss information ultimately leads to disaster.
Yes, that was the Internets first pull back from its roaring climb; full of promise and in all honesty no substance, the sharp decline of the Internet, was really a natural phase of e-volution, a forest waiting for the first lightening strike of the season, waiting almost in anticipation for the devastating fury which ensues to reap its full destruction, though after all the turmoil abates nature is still left standing, waiting to regenerate and grow, the strongest survivors remain and the next group of saplings begin anew, this time with a little more vigour and strength than those who stood before them.
It is through the cycle of boom and bust especially in a new economy that the true nature of that economy can be formed and thus become a more credible and viable subset of the living and breathing greater economy, which it relies on for its life blood and source. Existing as a sub species without adhering to the laws that govern all things, to the laws of business and ultimately sense is what led to the initial rise and quick fall of the unwieldy beast that we know as the Internet.
Funny really how quickly things move and also how quickly people forget, and yet it was only 2001 when the Internet and many other technology based businesses felt that intensive disaster begin to unfold. When the unstoppable chasm suddenly opened, sucking away almost everything in its path, deep down into its precipitous and cavernous depth those who had not built a solid foundation into the earth around which they stood, quickly perished. Of course, most had no foundation at all, those that remained did so on the skin of their teeth apart from a few inexorable giants that had grown so quick and so large that they had shrouded all around them, stealing most of their light in those rampant days of puberty, those giants still remain and have grown larger and stronger still.
The days that followed the disaster were like the calm before a devastating storm, there was peace again, life continued, all be it somewhat different than before, well at least for a period of a time, but none the less like nature itself ever changing and growing the Internet did not go away, it regathered itself for its next burst of life, slowly bubbling away pondering the direction that it would take next, many channels that had allowed it to spring forth with such zeal and speed had now dried up and yet it was still twisting and moving, its life blood like a river searching for a new direction in which to flow, hurt and injured, though there was still life.
It has been almost six years since the big bubble burst which in today’s technology driven world is almost a lifetime and the next set of eager entrepreneurs are waiting for their chance to climb the deep ravines, gorges and long unchartered waters looking for the next big strike, the next Google or YouTube is just beyond the next ‘silicon valley’.
The new gold rush of the 21st century is certainly not forthcoming in the fields or valleys of this still wonderful planet, no; this gold rush is born from the armchair, the university halls, or in those quiet moments pondering your way out of your current job, complete with shackles and despair. With this new wave of expectant prospectors there will be new fortunes made and many small ones lost. Though like all great explorers the chase is what makes the treasure all the more alluring, if one can focus on the big picture and harbour the festering greed that is the peril of so many an expectant prospector then there may actually be gold over the next horizon.
Unlike those early pioneers who were walking through unchartered territory the new prospector needs to learn from the past when looking expectantly in to the future and beyond. There are some important lessons to be learned and if one chooses the correct path then your chance of striking that next big thing or at least releasing yourself from those heavy shackles will be more of a certainty rather than a matter of complete chance.
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