Excerpt:
The Internet boom and bust of 1996 to 2002 was the most important business phenomenon of the past several decades. In the wake of this historic period, we have an unprecedented opportunity to learn from our past mistakes and successes.
To help us learn from history, we are creating the Business Plan Archive (BPA) to collect business plans and related documents from the dot com era. These plans – the “blueprints” that lay out the assumptions and strategies of Internet entrepreneurs – will enable entrepreneurs and researchers to conduct both qualitative and quantitative research.
Annotation:
The Business Plan Archive, a project of Prof. David Kirsch at the University of Maryland, collects business plans and related documents from the dot com era to preserve and provide them for study of the Internet boom and bust of the last decade. The communication and records of these companies were all created electronically, and in the Archive are the Word documents, Power Point presentations, and emails of more than 2,000 failed businesses. “Top Ten Lessons from the Dot Com Meltdown” and “A Statistical Summary of the Dot Com Shakeout” provide context for the documents, which include funding requests, memos, draft press releases, anecdotal descriptions or images, and contract and investment-related information. For some companies there is a collection overview as well. The Archive can be searched by company name, alphabetical listing, market sector, market audience, or type of available information, making it easy to find companies of interest. Visitors are able to add more information to the Archive about any company’s events, files, or background, or just add a comment. A thorough Question and Answer Section accompanies the materials, along with links to the numerous articles and news coverage of the Archive.