My Web 2.0 Keynote

Here’s O’Reilly’s video of the keynote I gave at web 2.0 NYC yesterday, titled The New York Internet Industry, 1995 to 2008, From Nascent to Ascendant

#VC & Technology

Comments (Archived):

  1. Dhru Purohit

    Can’t wait to watch it

  2. Spencer Fry

    Saw it live. Loved it.

  3. greenskeptic

    Wow. That was a great presentation, Fred. Thanks for putting it together and for posting it. It’s not just a history lesson, but an appreciation. Bravo.

  4. majorwho

    Fantastic Fred. I remember the boom like it was yesterday. I had to laugh when you mentioned Kozmo. I never really understood how they could make money. They were truly the beginning of the end. We almost got run down by their bike messengers every day for a year.

  5. Charles Adler

    Great trip down memory lane. Awesome to see some of the stats, ex-bosses, and ex-superstar web nerds. Thanks for sharing.

  6. DonRyan

    Great presentation. Thanks for posting.

  7. Edwin Khodabakchian

    Nice presentation.

  8. gregorylent

    want to know how mr. wilson has time to do so many things? look at his eyes. 🙂 great talk, amazing preparationand shows how being ahead of the time is not good for business ..

    1. rahmin

      well spoken – noticed the same thing.thanks for the history lesson fred.

    2. fredwilson

      do you mean the bags under them? that’s the first thing i noticed when i watched it

      1. gregorylent

        🙂 it is a sign of the ability to overcome the limitations of the body ..

  9. angela penny

    95 – 98 that’s such a short window on sanity.

  10. mpstaton

    thanks. my life has been valley centric for the past two years, but i’ve gotten to know a stray from connected ventures and i’minlikewithyou and heard your name a couple of times. it’s good to get context.

  11. jeremystein

    fred,thanks so much for posting this. i started using the internet in 1995 and remember hearing so much about many of these companies. through 1999 i was still trying to understand this internet thing that everyone kept talking about. i wasnt sure how it was going to impact my life– i only knew that i spent a lot of time on it. it was during this time that i also took interest in the stock market. the only thing that i heard on the news, and at trading desks was silicon valley and technology. only after watching this presentation (and ignorantly) did I realize that a fair amount of these companies were founded in NYC.however, i never ended up investing in an nyc ipo. the first stock (and only tech stock at the time) that I bought was redhat. i held it until i broke even in 2004 (http://tinyurl.com/4ucxx3). during this time i tried to make sense of what was happening. it was still difficult to comprehend bubbles, etc. it was around this time when i found this blog and other vc’s which helped explained the industry and it’s history.thanks for the much needed history lesson! even with the issues wallst is facing, this presentation helped to reaffirm my belief that nyc has the best balance of tech and finance– more than i need to justify my move! thanks.

  12. denmeade

    thank you for sharing this. well done. i was working in the industry in the 90’s but in australia. it was fun to be reminded of some of the companies we were watching from here too.

  13. Geoff

    Great history lesson, its easy to forget just how new the internet is! For me born in 1947 it was like a dream come true. I had my first dial up account in 1995 and started blogging in 2002. Can’t wait to see the “We live in public” film you mentioned.

  14. Sameer Panchangam

    Terrific Video! Must watch for NYC lovers!

  15. ppearlman

    just watched just awesome thanks fred…

  16. JeremiahKane

    Really enjoyed the history leason – I know you know this already but 555 Washington/ St. John’s Center has bigger floorplates than the Port Authority/Google building… although that could change at some point if someone removes the section over houston.

    1. fredwilson

      Oh yeah. That’s right. A covenient brane fade. It happens sometimes 🙂

  17. dylanc

    Caught your keynote at the conference fred. Just wanted to say I thought it was a highlight of the keynotes – along with Gary from winelibrarytv’s for sheer can’t quite think of the right word. I love it when I come to ny and this really got me thinking about just what it is that is special and different.

    1. fredwilson

      I can’t compete with garyvee. But I can enjoy him. He reminds me so much of jim cramer when I first started working with jim in the mid 90s. Come to think of it I left out the whole street.com story out of my talk. Come to think of it I left out the whole wall st meets internet out. Damn. I knew I’d regret leaving stuff out

  18. Brendan Putek

    Thank you for posting this! I was too young to grasp what was going on at the time, so this was extremely helpful in providing a history for me.

  19. Jitle

    I spent a couple days back in Silicon Valley and it really charged me on the start up scene there and it made me think what I was missing looking for start ups in NY, thanks for giving me back spirit and faith into the Silicon Broadway scene.Great history lesson and great call to action for the entrepreneurs and investors of the city.

  20. aarondelcohen

    Fred:Super fun to watch. Beautiful day in NYC and just inspiring at the end of this very strange week.Aaron

  21. Guest

    Great video to provide historicity and context to new innovators in the internet space.

  22. CD

    The video doesn’t work for me.

  23. ellen

    I still wear my kosmoz jacket. as a reminder.Loved the presentation..

  24. Dedektif

    thank you very much

  25. Dorian Benkoil

    something seems wrong w/ the video this morning, Saturday.

    1. Steve Stein

      Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was glad to be at the presentation. The whole Web 2.0 Expo was a little reminiscent of those early Silicon Alley days for me. Wow, so much energy was pumping through the new york/silicon alley scene in the late 90’s. It was good to see the mix of things that made it and great ideas like kozmo that did not.I’ll never forget when the kozmo ( could of been urban fetch) guy showed up at my 4 floor walk up in mid town, sweating with my video rental and hagen daz ice cream bar. My girlfriend at the time ( now wife) said something like “that guy gets full medical insurance? How?” turns out it was a good question.Another moment I’ll never forget was at the first Silicon Alley Conference at Pseudo. It was packed and really hot. Ted Leonsis spoke for a couple of hours – i think I’m still pumped from that lecture.Flash forward to Web Expo 2.0 2008 – glad to be back in the Alley again – great presentation Fred – thanks

  26. steinnyc

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was glad to be at the presentation. The whole Web 2.0 Expo was a little reminiscent of those early Silicon Alley days for me. Wow, so much energy was pumping through the new york/silicon alley scene in the late 90’s. It was good to see the mix of things that made it and great ideas like kozmo that did not.I’ll never forget when the kozmo ( could of been urban fetch) guy showed up at my 4 floor walk up in mid town, sweating with my video rental and hagen daz ice cream bar. My girlfriend at the time ( now wife) said something like “that guy gets full medical insurance? How?” turns out it was a good question.Another moment I’ll never forget was at the first Silicon Alley Conference at Pseudo. It was packed and really hot. Ted Leonsis spoke for a couple of hours – i think I’m still pumped from that lecture.Flash forward to Web Expo 2.0 2008 – glad to be back in the Alley again – great presentation Fred – thanks

  27. Jeff Judge

    Thanks Fred. This has me fired up to look through Chicago’s past as well.

  28. Chris Phenner

    Just outstanding…sitting in the building that housed Pseudo as I watched it, which is a historical landmark (for reasons pre-dating Pseudo’s tenancy), and got chills at several points of the earlier-days stuff.The focus on the PEOPLE who made it happen is always the best, in my view, documentary-worthy stuff.Well done, hats off.

  29. Robert Tolmach

    Great job, Fred!

  30. sdhouston

    nice

  31. trush

    What 60 Minutes episode was that from (around 19:45)? Caught some familiar faces in some of those clips.

    1. fredwilson

      It was an episode in early 2000

  32. jodyreale

    I often remember some of the shows I heard on Pseudo. Good stuff, and thanks for the We Live in Public tip. I love a good documentary.

    1. Andrew Warner

      I wish we could download these videos or get the MP3 of them. I watch long videos on my iphone, or–better yet–I listen to them.

  33. Eben Thurston

    Great presentation. Thanks for getting permission to post it and sharing.

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  35. Bruce Barber

    Fred,As is often the case when I watch online video, I figured I’d start watching your presentation and see how far I got.The next thing I knew, it was over!Congrats on successfully implementing the old adage, “Leave ’em wanting more”…

    1. fredwilson

      There’s no more there right nowThat talk wiped me outYou can see it in my eyes in the video