I had a conversation with a former co-worker today, about the knowledge economy is moving towards being a creative and conceptual economy. He is, just like me, a traditional Silicon Valley Bubble kind-of-guy. No education really, a lot of experience and a whole lot of a good ideas. As I wrote about some time ago, I would although like to study (Is there a bachelors degree in Design and Innovation?) and get away from this, well, personal brand.
I told him this, and we then got onto how product development works in a typical internet firm. It’s the "Ready. Fire! Aim." model. At first you’ve got a great idea, you then work on it a little and do a prototype. You do a little more work on this and call it a beta version. You then upload it and people start using it. You then correct errors and sooner or later you’ve got some venture capital on your hands. He thought that this was what caused "The Bust" in late 2000, but I do not agree with him. People like us are maybe a litte hasty some times, but I think that’s a good thing! If everyone starts aiming before shooting, no good business ideas will make it out there in the conceptual age. We need to let go, forget about the boxes and have some trust in ourselves.
Bottom line is that there’s a lot of things to learn from the bust, but this is not one of them. Keep on shooting pals - we need a lot more good ideas and ventures out there to survive.