Extract
When the dotcom bubble burst in 2000 it sent significant numbers of businesses to the wall. Investment banks had been encouraging enormous investment in dotcom ventures by launching initial public offers (IPOs) allowing investors and entrepreneurs to cash in on vast fortunes by selling off shares in their companies.
Most of the dotcoms which listed on stock exchanges had done little more than consume vast amounts of investor cash and showed little prospect of achieving a profit. Traditional metrics of performance were overlooked and big spending was seen as a sign of rapid progress.