Kevin O'Connor Talks Tech Bubbles, Social Media Hype And More (VIDEO)

Wondering whether we're in the midst of another tech bubble?

Veteran entrepreneur Kevin O'Connor, who survived the dot-com collapse of the 1990s, suggests the warning signs won't come from the financial press or seasoned industry analysts; they'll come from the fashion magazines.

O'Connor, co-founder of DoubleClick, an Internet ad company Google purchased for $3.1 billion in 2007, and CEO of FindTheBest.com, recalls he grew concerned about a bubble when glossy magazines started asking startup CEOs for interviews and luxury hotel staffers could recognize him by sight. These were indications, he says, that members of the general public had become venture capitalists.

"I knew we were in trouble in 2000 when I was traveling in the airport and every magazine -- W, Cosmopolitan, you name it -- was all about the Internet," he said. "They were taking geeks and making them rockstars, and even taking goobers like me to lunch."

"I walked into the Four Seasons and the concierge knew me. He said he'd bought stock in my company," O'Connor added. "When people who shouldn't be speculating speculate, it's never good."

Though many argue that valuations for new tech startups and Internet companies portend a second dot-com crash, O'Connor counters things are different now than they were in late '90s.

"I don't think it's anything quite like the last one. In the last one, you didn't have to have a real product or a real concept or any revenues to go public," he explained. "Now, the companies going public are real: They have substantial revenues, they're proven and there's clearly huge demand for this stuff."

However, there's a new social media movement O'Connor admits he just doesn't get: checking in using location-based services, such as Foursquare. He also calls social media marketing the most overhyped trend in tech.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, O'Connor shared his take on the qualities necessary to be a successful tech entrepreneur, the question he always asks a potential hire, what could cause a tech bubble and more. See his answers in the video above.

Comments

[Reticent2]

05:59 AM on 07/14/2011

There is a terrific article in the current New Yorker about Sheryl Sandberg and her association with tech companies. Making a profit is defined by ad revenue generated and selling individual information, and all the social media sites are the same in this. So until advertisers stop using the social media bill boards or the info garnered from the sites is useless, they will still be profit generators.

[Whistlejackett]

07:41 PM on 07/12/2011

Hey Kevin, why didn't you reply to me like other people do? How did you get my e-mail address? Double click must be like double talk right? I never gave you permission to locate and use my e-mail address. That's my point.

[gemini68]

01:23 PM on 07/12/2011

I agree with regarding services like Four Square. I find them to be creepy. And also it just lends itself to the trend that Facebook began and Twitter continues where people think everything they say and do has to be documented.

[SuperBenFranklin]

10:29 AM on 07/12/2011

Isn't this the guy who founded a company that spies on your browsing without you knowing it?

Shouldn't he be arrested?

[JackHoffman]

03:48 PM on 07/12/2011

You're being spied on right now.

[SuperBenFranklin]

09:27 AM on 07/13/2011

Totally.

[Feanor]

11:58 AM on 07/13/2011

You can use your hosts file to avoid doubleclick and others of it's ilk.

[gokulram arunasalam]

10:00 AM on 07/12/2011

I don't think the core social networking sites such as Facebook, now Google + etc are bubbles. The way advertising is done has changed and evolved around social communities and such sites provide ideal platforms. But I do think the deal sites may not be sustainable in the current business model - the merchants do not generate earnings (even sell at a loss) and hence may not tie up with the deal sites in a sustained manner.

[JackHoffman]

03:50 PM on 07/12/2011

How do you know this? I personally know merchants who have benefited tremendously from Groupon traffic.

[nammy50]

09:57 AM on 07/12/2011

What he doesn't like about Social Media is that you cannot push stuff at people the way traditional advertising has always done. Social is a two way street, if your product or service is crap or great, people will tell their friends, word will spread.
Social IS measurable. By looking at online comments we can easily measure a brand's sentiment, ie, wheteher the comments are positive or negative or even neutral.
Social is a huge focus group ready to give their honest opinion of your brand-- better listen!

[General Public]

05:42 AM on 07/12/2011

I'm definitely not a fan of DoubleClick, one of the biggest advertisers on the Internet, which always had the most annoying ads, very often using Flash. No wonder they got bought by Google as it expanded its Internet advertising empire. I sure am glad I have AdBlock Plus now, for Mozilla Firefox. Now you can block ads in other browsers too, but only AdBlock Plus for Firefox can not only block all almost types of ads but also prevent the browser from downloading any ad content. There is also an AdBlock for Chrome, and Opera has a built-in filtering feature that works basically the same way, but neither of those is as robust as in Firefox, because Firefox extensions are given far more power than Chrome extensions (Google Chrome limits what extensions can do for security reasons, but it makes Chrome extensions lame in comparison to Mozilla Firefox's). Anyway, it's super-easy to block all the ads from DoubleClick, and DoubleClick is on all the major ad-blocking lists people use. You can even block it globally for your computer by redirecting DoubleClick's hostnames to 127.0.0.1 in your HOSTS file.

[barkingcat]

10:47 AM on 07/12/2011

Adblock Plus and NoScript are excellent.

[JackHoffman]

03:53 PM on 07/12/2011

So the sites that rely on ad revenue in return for good content can rely on you to take everything for free? Everything must be free?

[Jack Daniels Esq]

03:14 AM on 07/12/2011

Flash is still garbage & the virus source from hell

[SirSlappy]

08:09 PM on 07/11/2011

Stop playing vids I didn't click on

F U.*. K YOU , H P!

[MrXmas]

10:18 PM on 07/11/2011

While I agree it is annoying...
...so is this sort of over-reaction.

[Jack Daniels Esq]

03:11 AM on 07/12/2011

Gee - why did my system flash like that, honey

[alguien]

06:56 PM on 07/11/2011

he's not coming from an elitist position at all now, is he?

[SolarPowerGuy]

05:22 PM on 07/11/2011

I HATE videos that start automatically! Let me push the play button when I'm ready!!!

[BonzaSheila]

05:25 PM on 07/11/2011

Use Chrome with Flash turned off. I have to right-click if I want to watch the video.

[SolarPowerGuy]

06:21 PM on 07/11/2011

Thank you. I am in fact browsing with Chrome. Having Flash turned on is apparently the default, I'll look for the "off" button.

[BonzaSheila]

05:27 PM on 07/11/2011

PS, I hate video that starts automatically too, hence I love the control of Chrome; and the add-on called No Script if using Firefox.

[ThePeacemakers]

05:03 PM on 07/11/2011

This is very telling:

"I walked into the Four Seasons and the concierge knew me. He said he'd bought stock in my company," O'Connor added. "When people who shouldn't be speculating speculate, it's never good."

The majority of the public is like the guy working at the hotel, so why take companies public if it will bring in "people who shouldn't be speculating"?

Oh, yeah, somebody has to be on the short end of the stick for the others to collect.

[drdrey]

04:45 PM on 07/11/2011

Well IMHO he's wrong about one thing: "Now, the companies going public are real: They have substantial revenues, they're proven and there's clearly huge demand for this stuff."

Groupon, which is launching an IPO in a month, and LinkedIn, which launched their IPO last month, are both in the red. And neither company, like nearly all purely internet sites, can protect their products from competition. It's very easy to launch your own Groupon or social networking site. If people don't realize this, and invest in these companies, they're going to lose money. And if it happens to enough companies, then you got yourself a stock bubble.

[Marcus01]

04:20 PM on 07/11/2011

Wish I could find a way to permanently prevent DoubleClick from dropping those !@#$% tracking cookies on my computers. I find them to be just as invasive and sleazy as Google.

[planetjeffy]

04:18 PM on 07/11/2011

this is not a bubble
twitter, facebook, linked in, groupon, etc generate a lot of cash
plus, most of these companies are still private
and the average joe has been scared out of the market