.Com Millionaires: Where are they now?

Sivar writes "They came pitching gee-whiz business plans and painting visions of integrated platforms, enabling technologies, and wizardry beyond compare. They created billions in wealth that seemed built on--and that all too often evaporated into--thin air. More than thirty former .com millionaires, what they were, and what they are now are on Fortune.com. One on sabbatical, one awaiting a prison sentence, there are some interesting transitions some have had."

Comments

Re:This is fucked up!

[Russ Nelson]

"rape children"? As far as anyone knows, he never touched a child.
-russ

On balance..

[mumblestheclown]

On balance, these individuals continue to be far wealthier and more successful than the average critic here.

I mean, even getting a job at a private equity firm, as a few of those on the list have, is fairly impressive, as is going back to business school with several million in the bank.

Always a diverse group

[mikewas]

Dot-commers were always a diverse group, from the founders down to the mailroom these companies tended to attract folks with a wide range of interests & capabilities. That's one of the things that I found fun about working for a startup & one of the things I found scary about working for a startup.

Is it any surprise that these same folks have movd on to varied new vocations & avocations?

You raise a very good point, but..

[wackybrit]

..the answer is simple.

Most of the money went in salaries and advertising.

Salaries generally form a company's largest expense, other than stock, and most of these Internet companies had no stock (consultancies, design agencies, etc) or were drop shipping.

Dot com companies were also keen on advertising, so a lot of money went into the new media magazines of the time.. but even then, the money ended up in the pockets of the writers and editors.. so, really, it all went in salaries.

A lot of people were employed to do almost nothing during the dot com boom. This means that they added little to production, yet took a paycheck every month. That's where the money was 'wasted' and why we can see no remnant of it today.. effectively the wealth was used to buy a few years' 'free time' for a group of lazy bastards.

Nowadays the market is not so great, but is much more realistic. People who are productive earn their money, people who aren't don't.

Re: On balance...most did not deserve it.

[FallLine]

While I have absolutely no problem with wealth per se, I do object to the implication that they must have done something right, as the vast majority on that list simply did not create any wealth. In fact, most had a negative impact by causing money to be diverted from better investments (and from those that deserved it more). What's more, I believe that most of them learned very little from their experiences, unlike other failed entreprenuers. Compared to real entreprenuers they did not: work at the same intensity; put in the same kinds of hours; expose themselves to risk; invest their own money (by and large); have to make hard decisions (e.g., they had enough VC money to do EVERYTHING); live spartan; spend much time at it (2-3 years in many cases); face rejection; and so on...

That they work at private equity firms and are back at business school does not impress me either, because many of my peers are in much the same position and that, in and of itself, means little. About all that I can say for them is that they HAPPEN to be wealthier than the average MBA. Might some of them some day redeem themselves? Maybe. But I'd never hire them (well 99% of them) for their DotCom experience [in fact, I'd say that the naivety/stupidity would be a mark against their intelligence] or because they got lucky enough to walk away with someone else's money.

8.6 Million

[Anonymous Coward]

$8.6 Million

That's how much I walked away with in the summer of 2000. I never scammed investors and we were a profitable company. When we sold out, I listened to the advice of the most successful people I knew and placed almost everything into the stock market. Now 2 years and 3 major SEC investigations later, it's all gone. Three different companies who I was too heavily invested into, all lied about their financials.

$8.6 Million

It can all be over in an instant.

My favorite

[JabberWokky]

One of the few stories I folowed (because I might have done the same thing) was jwz (the creator/forker of XEmacs and one of the coders behind Netscape and the initial Mozilla release). He made his millions from Netscape, left at the right time, and looked around saying "there aren't any good clubs to go to". Suddenly things connected, and he founded (with great trials and tribulations which he details at his ) the DNA Lounge.

And since jwz is on Slashdot: Howdy, I just moved cross country to a semi reasonable distance from the Bay area - I'm planning on hitting your place fairly soon - still poking around the local area.

--
Evan (no references)