Great article. Incredibly accurate.
I had several friends working for internet start-ups in Manhattan (most of these startups had inane concepts and zero product). Venture capitalists were throwing money at ideas left and right. It was crazy! We were all trying to hop aboard that train.
I had friends only a few years out of college who were worth millions, and lived like it.
A year after 9/11, not one of them had a job. They were all on unemployment and unable to afford the escalating rent. They have ALL since moved out of Manhattan.
What a wild and strange time that was.
In retrospect it hardly seems real.
Railroads, automobiles, oil, franchised restaurants, and many more all had their crazy boom times. That's the way it works. Most startups go out of business, but a few continue to grow into giants. And every one of them was without profits at some point in the early stages. I worked at one of the most successful companies in the world that's been established for a very long time, and is still around. A lot of the goofy things described in the article went on their too, and that was before dot com.