Monday, March 12, 2018

Dot.com to Dot.bomb

    The dot com boom and bust has been a term thrown around in our class all quarter. I could swear that our professor, Andrew Fry, specifically mentioned it no less than three times per class session. It started to feel like old news, but the combination of a lecture and documentary on the subject put things into perspective. I now understand its significance; it might be a no-brainier to someone older but keep in mind that I was still learning to walk during this time.  While I won't delve into that, I will explore how I have been attempting to apply the lessons we learned from the dot com boom/bust to current industries.
    When Shadrach White came in to discuss his endeavors, he explained that his company had found a niche int he medical marijuana business. He had no intention of doing so, he just happened upon an opportunity and seized it. He also mentioned that they made a  point not to tie their versatile product to this industry, less for its divisiveness and more because he didn't want to limit their platform to a single industry. I asked him what advantages there might have been had he specialized into one industry and if he thought the marijuana business was a bubble. He explained that it's hard to tell if something's a bubble until after it bursts. This wasn't really the answer I was looking for; I was hoping he would have possibly related things to a previous bubble (such as the dot com bubble) to explain his reasoning. Other people had questions too so I didn't push it too much.
   After some thought, I concluded that Shadrach wasn't even looking at things in terms of bubbles, he simply saw his company's ability to operate in a diverse field and didn't want to limit it. This more or less led me right back where I started, but I explain this because it helped me come to my somewhat disappointing and redundant conclusion about the dot com boom/bust and bubbles in general: It can be hard to tell sometimes, and investing all of your time and/or money into an industry that may be a bubble is simply a risk one has to take.

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