Infonaut's Journal: Gotta love the stock market

I'm starting to think that the hype bubble surrounding Web 2.0 is getting to the point where it is now truly damaging. The latest proof came when Yahoo announced the results of a very good quarter, and the market hammered them for failing meet expectations.

My expectations for the end user effects of Web 2.0 are still very high. This really is the part of the Web revolution where things get interesting. We're finally past the crawl stage and are starting to shakily stand up. However, the brain trust that has pushed Web 2.0 as a huge driver of financial market change have seriously missed the boat. One of the salient factors of Web 2.0 companies is that their capitalization requirements are extremely minimal. My guess is that many if not most of the creators of these companies aren't interested in trying to become the next Brin or Filo. You can actually build a solid company with organic growth. It's a concept the tech investors just don't seem to understand. You just need a few sharp, hard-working people who know what they're doing. Hardware costs have plummeted, and there are a host of excellent services that have radically reduced the time and money required to create a high tech startup, particularly a Web 2.0-focused company.

Zeldman, et. al. have already begun the gripe-fest about Web 2.0, and I think a lot of that has to do with annoyance at the VCs and other leeches who think they can make a bundle off the insight, determination, and hard work of entrepreneurs. I just hope that the increasing clamor of the Financial Masters of the Universe doesn't drown out the great stuff that so many new companies are creating on the Web.