Misty, water-colored memories...

Found this in the archives over at Wired :

Date: Wed 12/20/2000 2:22 PM
From: Jonathan Harber (jharber@fundsxpress.com)
To: newsfeedback@wired.com
Subject: Happy Holidays ... You're Fired

Regarding the subject story, I find it hard to believe anyone is surprised. ("Happy Holidays ... You're Fired," Dec. 18, 2000) Through 1998 and 1999, many 20-somethings with little experience, basic skills and self-important attitudes demanded super-inflated salaries (not to mention sports cars and other stuff) relative to their skills and experience.

Many dot-coms with no real business plans hired these often spoiled brats when they had lots of money and catered to their every whim thinking the money would last forever and it didn't. Now these youngsters will have to start low and work their way up just like everyone else. This is a direct result of wishing for castles in the air.

Successful businesses have followed plans that slowly and prudently build revenue streams for 200 years and will continue to do so by rewarding quality products and solid business plans rather than catering to a culture that supports the opposite. The dot-coms that have dried up have done so because they had weak plans, offices that were too fancy, perks that were too expensive, and compensation packages that were too greedy. This result was inevitable.

Ahhh...the memories.

Note to the unwashed masses: Fundsxpress is a company I used to work for (along with some other folks), back in my heady, code-slinging days of yore. Still, having been one of the ones with the inflated salaries (I declined on the sports car...I'm not greedy, dammit!), I really did like the irony of the above post considering that FX back in the heyday was neither slowly, nor prudently building revenue streams.

Goes, back to that old gamblers maxim, "If you've been at the table for twenty minutes and can't figure out who the patsy is, get out. You're the patsy."