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A Very Public Offering: The Story of theglobe.com and the First Internet Revolution
In the volatile world of internet start-ups, it can take just a nanosecond to lose it all.
A decade before Facebook, Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman created the first social network in their college dorm room. After a meteoric rise, theglobe.com became world-famous for its billion-dollar IPO, only to quickly plummet toward the depths. This very personal history details what it was like to witness the chaotic birth of the internet industry.
One of the poster boys of the dot-com era, Stephan rode the wild high of seeing his digital dreams come true, only to confront the sometimes-ugly reality of being the youngest-ever CEO of a public company. As Stephan navigated a fledgling and cutthroat industry, he struggled to keep his company afloat.
Chronicling a surreal, upside-down period in American corporate history, A Very Public Offering tells the dramatic personal story of a young man’s rocket toward success, and what happens when it all falls apart.
Reissued to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of theglobe.com’s IPO and adding powerful and practical lessons for a new generation of start-up founders, this edition expands upon Stephan’s story featured in the National Geographic TV series Valley of the Boom.
A decade before Facebook, Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman created the first social network in their college dorm room. After a meteoric rise, theglobe.com became world-famous for its billion-dollar IPO, only to quickly plummet toward the depths. This very personal history details what it was like to witness the chaotic birth of the internet industry.
One of the poster boys of the dot-com era, Stephan rode the wild high of seeing his digital dreams come true, only to confront the sometimes-ugly reality of being the youngest-ever CEO of a public company. As Stephan navigated a fledgling and cutthroat industry, he struggled to keep his company afloat.
Chronicling a surreal, upside-down period in American corporate history, A Very Public Offering tells the dramatic personal story of a young man’s rocket toward success, and what happens when it all falls apart.
Reissued to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of theglobe.com’s IPO and adding powerful and practical lessons for a new generation of start-up founders, this edition expands upon Stephan’s story featured in the National Geographic TV series Valley of the Boom.
279 pages, Paperback
Published November 13, 2018
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34 people want to read
About the author
Stephan Paternot
3 books3 followersStephan Paternot is co-founder & CEO of Slated, the world’s first online film finance marketplace. Powered by machine-learning analytics, over 1,200 listed films have received over $1.25 billion in investor introductions as of 2018. Over half of this year’s Sundance Film Festival selections and Oscar nominated films were made by Slated members in producing, directing, and writing roles. Stephan is also co-founder of PalmStar, a film production and financing company started in 2004 which has produced and financed 30+ films including HEREDITARY (2018), JOHN WICK (2014), COLLATERAL BEAUTY (2016) and SING STREET (2016). Stephan is also the founder and general partner of the Actarus Funds. Founded in 2002, these angel funds have backed such companies as LendingClub, SecondMarket, Indiegogo, AngelList, Digital Currency Group, and many more.
Prior to this he co-founded one of the first Internet community sites, theglobe.com in 1994. The company set stock market history when it went public in 1998 with a record setting IPO pushing the company valuation to over $1 billion. Over a six-year span the company grew to over 300 employees with the website becoming one of the top thirty most trafficked sites in the world with nearly 10% of all internet users visiting the site monthly. In 1999 Stephan won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and in 2001 published “A Very Public Offering”, a non-fiction business book detailing his experience at theglobe.com. Before founding the company Stephan attended Cornell University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Born in Palo Alto, Stephan spent his formative years in Switzerland and the U.K. before moving to New York City and Los Angeles.
Prior to this he co-founded one of the first Internet community sites, theglobe.com in 1994. The company set stock market history when it went public in 1998 with a record setting IPO pushing the company valuation to over $1 billion. Over a six-year span the company grew to over 300 employees with the website becoming one of the top thirty most trafficked sites in the world with nearly 10% of all internet users visiting the site monthly. In 1999 Stephan won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and in 2001 published “A Very Public Offering”, a non-fiction business book detailing his experience at theglobe.com. Before founding the company Stephan attended Cornell University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Born in Palo Alto, Stephan spent his formative years in Switzerland and the U.K. before moving to New York City and Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 28, 2019
A Very Public Offering is the story of how two students at Cornell started an Internet company and wound up worth $97 million by their early twenties . . . and out of a job and worth just a few million by their mid-twenties. theglobe.com was one of the first dot-com bubble cautionary tales. It also helped pioneered use of the Internet for community and Silicon Alley in NYC. And, believe it or not, but for a little irrational exuberance it might have been a viable community.
Stephen Paternot and Todd Krizelman started theglobe.com while they were students at Cornell. A Very Public Offering is Paternot’s account. It was originally published in 2001. This new edition includes a new intro and afterword (it probably isn’t worth the purchase price if you already own the original version). Paternot landed on his feet: he got into film producing and founded a film finance startup.
The prose and the narrative are a little rough, but it is too good a story for that to slow it down. It was a heady time. theglobe.com IPO was priced at $8 but its share hit $97 on the first day. The even crazier part is that sixteen million shares traded hands the day of a three-million-share deal. The initial run up gave Paternot, who owned a million shares, a net worth of $97 million . . . on paper. Fourteen months later the stock price was down to $7. Paternot and Krizelman stepped down as co-CEOs when the stock dipped all the way to $2. (Most of Paternot’s shares were locked in, but Paternot did manage to sell enough shares to not lose everything.)
theglobe.com comes off as a little snake bit. Its pre-IPO road show came right as the NASDAQ dropped bigtime. It never got the truly crazy valuations of some other dot coms and didn’t raise as much money as later companies. It turns out that their investment bankers Bear Stearns screwed them. A secondary offering closed days after Alan Greenspan issued his famous warning about “irrational exuberance” and raised rates. Despite having at one point 30,000 paying subscribers and later a user base sufficient to bring in real advertising revenue. Maybe snake bit isn’t the right term. On one hand, theglobe.com had more actual revenue than a lot of Internet companies with far higher valuations. Does it make any sense for a company twenty times bigger than at its IPO date to be worth one-hundredth as much? On the other hand, it still wasn’t undervalued.
It was a fascinating time. But maybe it wasn’t all that different. Paternot complains (maybe a little too much) about how unfair the press was to him (but, then again, you shouldn’t be hitting the clubs every night when you’re CEO of a public company, and you should never be wearing plastic pants). And apparently message boards were as toxic twenty years ago as they are today.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of the revised edition of A Very Public Offering via NetGalley.
Stephen Paternot and Todd Krizelman started theglobe.com while they were students at Cornell. A Very Public Offering is Paternot’s account. It was originally published in 2001. This new edition includes a new intro and afterword (it probably isn’t worth the purchase price if you already own the original version). Paternot landed on his feet: he got into film producing and founded a film finance startup.
The prose and the narrative are a little rough, but it is too good a story for that to slow it down. It was a heady time. theglobe.com IPO was priced at $8 but its share hit $97 on the first day. The even crazier part is that sixteen million shares traded hands the day of a three-million-share deal. The initial run up gave Paternot, who owned a million shares, a net worth of $97 million . . . on paper. Fourteen months later the stock price was down to $7. Paternot and Krizelman stepped down as co-CEOs when the stock dipped all the way to $2. (Most of Paternot’s shares were locked in, but Paternot did manage to sell enough shares to not lose everything.)
theglobe.com comes off as a little snake bit. Its pre-IPO road show came right as the NASDAQ dropped bigtime. It never got the truly crazy valuations of some other dot coms and didn’t raise as much money as later companies. It turns out that their investment bankers Bear Stearns screwed them. A secondary offering closed days after Alan Greenspan issued his famous warning about “irrational exuberance” and raised rates. Despite having at one point 30,000 paying subscribers and later a user base sufficient to bring in real advertising revenue. Maybe snake bit isn’t the right term. On one hand, theglobe.com had more actual revenue than a lot of Internet companies with far higher valuations. Does it make any sense for a company twenty times bigger than at its IPO date to be worth one-hundredth as much? On the other hand, it still wasn’t undervalued.
It was a fascinating time. But maybe it wasn’t all that different. Paternot complains (maybe a little too much) about how unfair the press was to him (but, then again, you shouldn’t be hitting the clubs every night when you’re CEO of a public company, and you should never be wearing plastic pants). And apparently message boards were as toxic twenty years ago as they are today.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of the revised edition of A Very Public Offering via NetGalley.
March 28, 2020
Highly recommend this book for any entrepreneur or tech startup enthusiast!
This an outstanding chronicle of a high growth tech startup that rose to fame in the world’s very first tech boom.
The Author - Stephen Paternot - shares his account of the company’s history and adventures - including the early days, their IPO experience, the tech issues that arose and the conflicts with investors and bankers.
I feel that the Author is very open and transparent about his journey with the Company. He doesn’t shy away from the difficult topics and openly discusses the various conflicts and personal hardships that he faced.
Overall, a thoroughly entertaining business book that was both easy to read and very informative.
If you're interested in learning more about the dot-com era tech boom and bust, you have to read this book.
5/5
This an outstanding chronicle of a high growth tech startup that rose to fame in the world’s very first tech boom.
The Author - Stephen Paternot - shares his account of the company’s history and adventures - including the early days, their IPO experience, the tech issues that arose and the conflicts with investors and bankers.
I feel that the Author is very open and transparent about his journey with the Company. He doesn’t shy away from the difficult topics and openly discusses the various conflicts and personal hardships that he faced.
Overall, a thoroughly entertaining business book that was both easy to read and very informative.
If you're interested in learning more about the dot-com era tech boom and bust, you have to read this book.
5/5
March 15, 2020
Paternot Knocks It out of the park!
A fast-paced, internet tale of the founding of the globe.com. Paternot is an excellent writer. You have a ringside seat to the founding, rise, collapse and rebirth of internet based businesses. I would recommend this book to any entrepreneur, business student or anyone looking for a fast, great business read.
A fast-paced, internet tale of the founding of the globe.com. Paternot is an excellent writer. You have a ringside seat to the founding, rise, collapse and rebirth of internet based businesses. I would recommend this book to any entrepreneur, business student or anyone looking for a fast, great business read.
August 19, 2021
Well this was the 3rd book I read that featured specific case studies on businesses or specific sectors, the other two being shoe dog (about nike) and the four (amazon, google, facebook and apple) and I have to say that it does get a little repetitive and tiring, perhaps because the writing isn't as good in this one, or perhaps because the entrepreneur goes through the same cycle of passion -> project -> realizing people love your business -> trying to keep up with growing the business -> IPO. I mean, these are all unique and interesting stories that meant a lot to each writer in their own respect, but everytime I read another book, I feel like my presence is more and more on the sidelines, like I could never do something like and that the more I read about these life stories, the more I think they really weren't that great, when in fact, they were!
Should I read another business book, it would have to be about an industry that I know little to nothing about (maybe something like healthcare); however, I am fairly confident that I am going to break this rule, probably due to FOMO and just curiosity.
Nonetheless, this book DOES in fact give a very insightful look into what it was like during the birth of consumer internet and during the dot com bubble. You hear what it's like growing and IPO'ing a business right in the thick of New York and the in the thick of the internet and really what it's like to be a small fish in a big pond. Theglobe.com appeared to be a very archetypical company in the dot-com bubble and it was, but hearing the story from the man n the inside really gives us an account that has been missing when it comes to looking at the dot-com bubble.
You could really sum up internet attitudes by saying that back then you had to convince investors that people are gonna use the internet and why products like forums and chatrooms had any utility at all. People simply didn't understand, "why not just fax or use e-mail" they'd say. Now you have to convince people to get off the internet and no-one could've predicted what the internet was going to turn into and Paternot even sounds ashamed of what the internet has turned into in his epligous.
Aside from this, I found the epligoue interesting: Paternot's reflections over 20 years and his discussions about his future ambitions almost seemed as if another person was writing, and you could say that yes this was the case. Reflecting in his epilogue, 20 years later, where he has immersed out of the spotlight, reveals the following: how we all have our period of stardom, our 15 minutes of fame in human history and when our time is over, we fall back and move onto other things in our life. Nothing is lasting, greatness isn't lasting, success isn't lasting; he talks at the end about how his family is the most important thing to him now. Maybe family is the only thing that lasts.
Should I read another business book, it would have to be about an industry that I know little to nothing about (maybe something like healthcare); however, I am fairly confident that I am going to break this rule, probably due to FOMO and just curiosity.
Nonetheless, this book DOES in fact give a very insightful look into what it was like during the birth of consumer internet and during the dot com bubble. You hear what it's like growing and IPO'ing a business right in the thick of New York and the in the thick of the internet and really what it's like to be a small fish in a big pond. Theglobe.com appeared to be a very archetypical company in the dot-com bubble and it was, but hearing the story from the man n the inside really gives us an account that has been missing when it comes to looking at the dot-com bubble.
You could really sum up internet attitudes by saying that back then you had to convince investors that people are gonna use the internet and why products like forums and chatrooms had any utility at all. People simply didn't understand, "why not just fax or use e-mail" they'd say. Now you have to convince people to get off the internet and no-one could've predicted what the internet was going to turn into and Paternot even sounds ashamed of what the internet has turned into in his epligous.
Aside from this, I found the epligoue interesting: Paternot's reflections over 20 years and his discussions about his future ambitions almost seemed as if another person was writing, and you could say that yes this was the case. Reflecting in his epilogue, 20 years later, where he has immersed out of the spotlight, reveals the following: how we all have our period of stardom, our 15 minutes of fame in human history and when our time is over, we fall back and move onto other things in our life. Nothing is lasting, greatness isn't lasting, success isn't lasting; he talks at the end about how his family is the most important thing to him now. Maybe family is the only thing that lasts.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews