James F. Booth

For more than 25 years, James Booth has provided consulting and legal services to telecommunications carriers and to enterprise companies that manage their own telecommunications networks. Since June of 2009 he has also served as General Counsel of Spread Networks, LLC, which is the industry leader in the construction and operation of low latency high speed networks. Before joining Spread he was General Counsel for OnFiber Communications, a competitive telecommunications provider, and was the sole attorney for Qwest Communications International in support of its construction of an 18,800 mile fiber optic network spanning the United States. Earlier he was lead counsel for U S WEST in its wireless and cable television ventures in the United States, Europe and Hong Kong.

Friday, January 3, 2014

5 lessons from survivors of the dotcom crash


Veterans of the first generation of web startups have not only survived, they continue to be big brands with 11-or 12-digit market caps. It's now been 15 years since 1999, a year that has since become synonymous with crazy Internet excess. The first Internet boom began several years earlier with an overhyped IPO and took a while to reach its febrile climax. Of course, it all crashed down much more quickly. Today, the lingering memories of the time -- extravagant rooftop parties, metoric IPOs, and massive wealth creation (at least on paper) -- feel at once legendary and quaint. With Twitter trading at 70 times revenue and costs of living rising in tech centers, the debate rages on over whether another period of irrational exuberance is nigh, if not already upon us. Just as every boom must have its bust, every bust will see its share of survivors. Many of the hot startups of the late 1990s are still alive and kicking, especially in networking (Akamai (AKAM), Juniper (JNPR)), business software (RedHat (RHAT)), and the consumer web (Angie's List (ANGI), Shutterfly (SFLY)).

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