USD Magazine, Summer 2001

Dot-Com or Dot-Bomb? What a difference a year makes W hen we left our alumni Internet entrepreneurs (featured in the Summer 2000 USD Magazine), Travelscape merged with Internet travel giant Expedia last year, sold more than l million room nights in the first quarter of 200 I and turned a profit a year ahead of projections. Mike Corrales '98

DOINGTHE DOT-COM GAADS T O ACFKE~6~~~~f woR.LD ·

the World Wide Web seemed more like a worldwide money-making machine. Twelve months later, the doc-com industry has been shaken to the core by fai led start-ups, mass layoffs and canceled IPOs. Last year, our grads predicted chat only the savvy would survive, and that solid busi– ness principles would separate the block– busters from the busted. Ir turns out they were right. So in the trimmed down e-com– merce climate, how are they doing? Erica Bixby '00 Although she landed a job at stare-up ScreamTone.com before she graduated, Bixby wasn't there for long. The Internet sound technologies firm, she says, had the same problems as many companies on the Web: an indistinguishable product and an inexpe– rienced management team.

Corrales also had a positive experience, but in greenery instead of getaways. A marketing manager with Internet Aorist ProAowers.com, Corrales says simple busi– ness smarts put the bloom on the rose. Rather than blowing big bucks on image, tony offices and lavish perks, the company counted on top-notch service and products to spread the word. "A number of people and companies we worked with a year ago aren't around any– more, and there was a stretch when calls from partners celling of layoffs and bank– ruptcy fi lings seemed almost a daily event," Corrales says.

To read the original article,"Doing the Dot-Com,'' log on to http://alumni.sandiego.edu/usdmagazine/Summer2000.

opmenc. "The market is caking rime to regroup, but e-commerce will move forward again, only chis rime with more caution."

Heady success or not, our alumni say being a part of the dot-com culture was an experience they wouldn't trade. These upstarcs, with their dressed-down attitudes and fresh ideas, changed corporate culture and introduced innova– tive business models. And while some companies couldn't ride the wave, interest in

"It's a culture shock to go from the position of turning down offers to a market where there are too many people and not enough jobs."

'There were a lot ofcompanies trying to do the same thing; only one or rwo could really make it, and I knew that we wouldn't be the one," says Bixby, now an ana– lyst for ARS, a San Diego firm that cracks e-commerce and net– working markets. "The venture capital for start-ups isn't out there anymore, so I feel lucky to have had the entrepreneurial experience

Mike Paganelli '93 For every success sto ry, there are dozens of companies that didn't make it. Paganelli got caught up in rwo of them. He lost his job as a product manager for Change.com, a busi– ness-to-business buying site, when spending far outpaced revenue. He moved on to £-help.com, a software development firm, bur the slowdown in tech companies forced owners to scrap several new projects, includ– ing Paganelli's. "It's a culture shock to go from the posi– tion of turning down offers to a market where there are too many people and not enough jobs," says Paganelli, who now is looking for work in business software

e-commerce hasn't waned. USD's master of science in electronic commerce program is thriving, mainly because it focuses on managing e-commerce initiatives within a broader business context. In December, the business school added a dual M.B.A./M.S.E.C. degree. "We were never focused on the 17-year– old kids doing a business plan on the back of an envelope," says Professor Gary Schneider, who helped start the program, "and it's a good thing, because that segment of the industry is gone. A lot of experiments didn't work out, but there's a ton of good ideas out there. We're still in the very early stages."

while it lasted." Tom Breitling '91 In contrast, Breitling hit the trifecta of right time, right place, right product. A parmer in the online travel service Travelscape.com, Breitling built an early niche by making exclusive deals with hotels and offering con– venient booking and discounts. "It's a lot easier to purchase travel over the lnternet, a benefit chat is not obvious in some other Internet businesses," Breitling says. ''As we grew our business, we added to our customer service and increased our ability to answer questions, sell travel and process reservations."

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SUMMER 2001