Books about dotcom period of ecommerce history
Written by: Jonathan Briggs
October 13, 2004 [3934 views]
From 1996 to 2000 the world went crazy as companies and individuals explored the opportunities to sell and do business online. From retailing bricks to giving away money in exchange for customer information they tried everything, until in early 2000 the investors lost faith and the markets came tumbling down.
Many of the ideas were flawed and many of the businesses had little chance of success but the stories of how companies were built, of how mistakes were made and lessons were learned are still fascinating. What’s more a few of these companies went on to be great businesses!
I have selected the following from huge selection of possible titles because they are all an interesting read. They are not textbooks but perhaps should be in your holiday reading lists. They are listed with my favourites at the top.
Burn Rate, How I survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet, Michael Wolff, 1999
I really enjoyed this. Having lived through similar negotiations to "buy our company" it is a great story of attempts to create a TV Guide for the Net.
Dot.con, The Real Story of Why the Internet Bubble Burst, John Cassidy, 2003
This is a very readible overview which describes how the bubble grew, why everyone wanted to be part of it and why it failed.
The Perfect Store, Inside eBay, Adam Cohen, 2002
eBay is probably the most successful retailer on the web and this book describes in detail how it grew from small to dominating the auction space.
Boo Hoo, a dotcom story, Ernst Malmsten et al, 2002
I resisted reading this book for ages because Boo.com was the most hyped retailer on the web and a spectacular failure. I read it this summer and would recommend it if you are interested in how dotcom companies were financed and how they ran out of money.
Starving to Death on $200 Million, James Ledbetter, 2003
During the dotcom years The Industry Standard became the must read magazine. This is an insider's view of how the magazine grew fat on promoting other dotcoms and then went very bust indeed. An excellent title and a good easy read.
Amazon.com: Get Big Fast - Inside the Revolutionary Business Model That Changed the World, Robert Spector, 2001
One of two recommended books about Amazon. This one was written before the bubble really burst and describes how Amazon threw money at getting big quickly to dominate first the book market and then as many other product catagories as it could. The books on eBay and Boo are probably more interesting.
Amazonia, Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot.Com Juggernaut, James Marcus, 2004
James clearly felt bitter when he left Amazon and it is interesting to compare this very personal story with the one above.
What do you think?
