It was exactly three years go to the day that the Nasdaq fell in a large way (well, it essentially crashed) and I embarked on a new career at a company called OVEN Digital. It was at this time that Barnes & Noble was launching barnesandnoble.com, spinning off its online from its “offline” and profitable business. The .com portion was going public, and the expected feeding frenzy on the stock was mammoth. We were all very excitable. What saddens me about that day three years ago is that many, many idealistic and thoughtful and smart ideas went away with the collapse of the dot-com frenzy, and I do miss those days of sheer possibility.
Today, the best part of barnesandnoble.com is its shortened web address. And the best part of being three years away from the Nasdaq’s collapse is that I’m much happier working with the Internet than in the Internet “industry.”