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F'd Companies: Spectacular Dot-Com Flameouts
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Author: Philip J. Kaplan
List Price: $18.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0743228626
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April, 2002)
Edition: Hardcover
Sales Rank: 11,042
Average Customer Rating: 3.28 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
Excellent!!! Now this is quality entertainment!
I wish I could find another book as funny and informative as this one. It is definitely one of my favorites!
Rating: 3 out of 5
A Front Row Seat to the Dot.Com Implosion
Philip J. Kaplan didn't set out to chronicle the disappointment and wrath of so many dot-commers burned by the internet bubble. But one Memorial Day weekend in 2000, trying to kill some time, Kaplan ( a web designer at the time) set up a site, F**kedcompany.com. The site offered the latest gossip about sinking dot-coms and even included an online betting pool on when companies would go under. Kaplan suddenly found himself thrust into the spotlight as a kind of overseer of the dot-com collapse.And while Kaplan often refers to himself as an "idiot" throughout the book, he nonetheless clearly loves the hype generated by his website. He has been profiled by "The New York Times," "Salon.com," and ABC News's "20/20." among others. In this book, Kaplan offers capsule descriptions of about 150 of the looniest ideas and largest implosions. Kaplan reveals how many millions the companies burned through and gives, in sometimes clever but crude language, his sarcastic explanation for the failure of the many companies he skewers. He garnered much of his information from the website. His website's betting pool assigned high scores to those submitting the best information about coming dot-com catastrophes. There was no actual monetary payout, winning is its own reward.) he was inundated with e-mails from employees, who were often angry, bitter, or just out to stick a knife in an occasional back, reporting rumors of pending layoffs, shutdowns, and bankruptcies. As more companies failed, an almost sick fascination with the site grew, its notoriety spread, and disgruntled employees continued to send thousands of e-mails regarding various internet companies. The information often turned out to be accurate, that reading the postings was like knowing a train wreck was coming and having to set up near the tracks and watch. And people clearly loved watching company after company flameout and wreck. The book spotlights many companies, among them: the sports site MVP.com, Webvan, and some you may never have heard of, such as little known Third Voice. Third Voice's pitch? It offered what amounted to virtual "sticky notes" which could be attached to websites. It had no real practical application, other than to potential muck up the websites of other businesses, yet investors poured some $15 million into the company. Like his website, the book maintains a satirical tone which both amuses and irritates at times. The book may not be quite as timely as Kaplan might hope as there have been numerous other recent books which have chronicled the idiocy of the internet explosion. Still, Kaplan had a front row seat for much of the implosion, and it certainly makes for an entertaining read.
Rating: 1 out of 5
PUD is as F*(^%ED As the Dot Coms
This book is a very sad rant by Pud (Kapaln), himself a washed out dot.commer. Here is a guy who rips into many companies from which he ran banners on his site. They became F&*#ED when he could not longer get them to advertise. (HotJobs for example.) Anyone who actually is able to learn anything from this garbage probably did not pass Business 1A. All in all, a waste of paper.
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