Alex Wright


Dogster bites back

February 3, 2004

In the wake of my admittedly flip comment about Dogster a few days back, who should respond but the top dog himself, CEO Ted Rheingold:

Perhaps a SNA bubble will be bursting quite soon, at least an investing bubble... [B]ut just because a site looks like an investment gambit doesn't mean that anyone wasted any burn money on it... For all the fears of mega-funded consolidation of web presences, there is constant opportunity for zero-budget entities anywhere on this planet to offer something better, faster, more heartfelt, that will always keep the goliaths scouring to capture back markets...

I can't believe how many micro-companies are finding decent enough income thanks to ubiquitous eCom engines and world-wide shipping to quit their day jobs and sell their handmade frames or custom wigs or mp3s or organic dog treat and make enough to match whatever salary they could get right now... If one is not hoping to become a over night millionaire I find the web replete with opportunity and low hanging fruit close enough for almost anyone to grab.
To which I say, Right on brother.

As I mentioned to Ted, I didn't really mean to impugn his scrappy little self-funded startup; I was just making light of the social networking bubble mentality that seems to be taking grip in the corporate/VC world.

After all, it's sites like Dogster that made the Web great in the first place: grass-roots, entrepreneurial, and genuinely optimistic. I wish them all the luck in the world.


File under: Ephemera

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