If I took a shot for every time someone said the words “bubble,” “boom,” or “bust” at Google’s holiday press party tonight, I would probably be wasted. Fortunately, the drinking game didn’t occur to me until my drive home and Google only served wine and beer anyway.
There were about 100 people at the Mountain View event, including Sergey Brinn and Larry Page, who both seemed eager to escape post haste. Luckily I caught up with them for a quick chat and photo before they left the party for some “real food.” (We only got hors d’oeuvres and sushi served on a surf board.)
I also got to speak briefly with YouTube founder Steve Chen, who is very smiley (who wouldn’t be in his shoes?), and his partner Chad Hurley, who seemed forced to be there.
“So why the Verizon deal?” I asked Hurley.
“I don’t know, it was just a place to start,” he shrugged and then sort of wandered off.
Okay then.
Even though the bigwigs weren’t letting loose at the party, the “corporate communications” folks were understandably enthusiastic. It seems Google has hired something like 500 new PR employees, each as nice as the next but looking rather nervous that they might be asked tough tech questions. Of all the big tech companies, Google’s press department is one of my favorites to work with so I stuck with the holidays for conversational fodder.
But the other journalists and analysts wanted to talk dirty. Are we in a boom or are we in a bubble headed for a bust? Are there too many start ups? And what is that pesky Yahoo up to? I personally lean towards boom over bubble, and that seemed to be the general consensus. For some reason, everyone thinks that we will be more reasonable and level-headed this time around. After all, if we were in the 2000 bubble mentality of limitless spending and optimism, wouldn’t we all have been served “real food?”
Yeah. What is that pesky Yahoo! up to anyway? =)
I almost forgot. Nice pics. It’s not everyday that you get great photo ops with cool Silicon Valley billionaires. Very nice. I am jealous. =)
They needed to invite Tim Draper. He always brings life to a party. Well, just don’t let him start singing ringmaster for no good reason. When I’m at Web 2.0 parties/meetups/keggers, I think people use the words bubble, boom, and bust just to be cool.
-JLB
It’s official. Natali is T3H H0Tn3SS.
Looks like you have had a nice party at google.
I guess the google founders had another pary in ther scedule or they are just orred, becaue there are alot of parties at google.
Thank you for sharing this good news with me !
looks like a fun party. ask the pr flacks tough questions next time, anyway. that’s what they’re there for, no?
she’s smoking
http://www.crankygeeks.com/200....._20_1.html
nice nice nice
guess there just bored of parties by now..
damn its hard to imagine a less flattering picture of steve chen.
And Hurley wandered off from YOU?? Is he gay?
Wow, that party sounded lame! Nat appeared to be the evening eye candy. …and “J”, Hurley must be Google And Youtube
I am quite puzzled to find such unrelevant content on this site. Looks more like a good occasion to put up some gossip and nice pics.
A great party. great peoples there.
http://www.ezecho.com
What you don’t see in the photo is Nat grabbing Steve’s google. That’s not a smile that’s a “… oh baby ….”
Thanks Natali. Nice pics. So, any opinions why Google has brought on so many PR folks right now?
I was wondering who is the stunning girl in the photos until I saw the author of this blog.
My initial thoghts was:
She must be either Sergey’s the other half or Chad’s or Steve, what a lucky guy!
Thanks for showing us the photos. Great to see the big guys!
Same thinking , When I saw the pic of Nat and sergey thought “sergey’s done well for himself” but then after more reading but the girl in the pic and Miss Del Conte together as being the same person.
Wow she is stunning ,
On a side note this site is going from when it first started “as the place to hear about new startups” to recently being lame.
Perhaps the team is struggling for new startups to review . Im a brit and headed to the UK version and that is god dam stupid. surely there must be some startups to review in the uk not just the latest VC/Angel getogher ?
That’s Natali with Sergey? Her articles have suddenly gotten more interesting.
Valleywag called. It wants it’s subject matter back.
Hurley needs to figure out how to hide that enormous forehead and shit-eating grin.
I am sure multi-millionaire Hurley always takes advice from a dork on a blog
Oh god! Behold, the leaders and innovative thinkers of Web 2.0. Slobbering over this woman. Guys, either get a life, or get to a porn site and begin working at it. This isn’t the place for this bullshit. I don’t wake up every morning with my coffee in hand to start reading the latest news to see, oh baby, this baby, hey baby. Grow the F**k Up.
It must be great though to be surrounded by the Gurus of Web 2.0. Its okay! Yahoo should be holding their Press Party in NYC! =), since thats where their pr division is ^_-.
Anyone know anything about this?
Well PR and Marketing is what can not be escaped in order to build a great brand.
lol.. Steve does look very smiley ( in a weird way ) in the pic..
If anyone thinks this is not a bubble they are fooling themselves. Sure it isn’t as bloated as the dot com era, but it is a bubble. When the average person cannot even describe what most of these 2.0 companies do and there are 5000 photo/video/music/social networking sites that are hardly distinguishable from each other with lots of money being invested into these worthless companies it is a bubble. Plain and simple.
Here is the quick test to determine if it is a bubble or boom. Are most of these companies taking on more debt then most of them will ever actually make? If yes (which is the case right now) then it is a bubble. I like Techcrunch but every time they post “XYZ company closes another round for $ABC million dollars in series B funding” I think “debt is not always good thing!” Sometimes it is necessary to get an idea started but it should be fairly shortly followed up with “Foo Investment company has had a 400% profit from their investment in company XYZ and company XYZ annouced their profit for the year is $ABCDEFG million dollars”
Also being bought for 1.65 billion is still not a profit, Sure the original investors made a profit but unless the company starts actually making serious money then the buyer will be out serious money. This will contribute to the overall bubble burst.
Did any of the other guys on this thread TOTALLY ignore the men in those photos?
Um… why is this on TechCrunch?
27. # Ryan
December 5th, 2006 at 6:44 am
Um… why is this on TechCrunch?
-> Maybe because Natali Del Conte is very cute? It’s enough of a reason for me.
Aw poor Frank, we ruined his morning coffee. If you’re reading comments for the latest news, you’re looking in the wrong place.
My first impression when I saw the picture where Sergey with a hot hot stunning lady was, she must be his girlfriend. I was thinking I wish I was a billionaire.
Then I realized she was the author of the article
Just wonder how hard it is for billionaires like them to get chicks like her.
God damnit PPL! My Coffee!
Geez, Natali break me of a piece of whatever you are breaking to all those Silicone Valley guys. Looking hot with your fine Morena and classy self. My guess is that you are Mexican.
Boom or Bubble…
I’m just about to launch my second company (my first was in 1997). Sorry guys (and gals) but this is not even close to a bubble YET. It kinda reminds me of 1996. We still have another three years before things get really insane…
Natalie you are so hot:(
Wow Natali, you’re smoking hot.
It’s a bit difficult to have a party at Google scale. The company’s traditional holiday celebration is a ski trip to the Lake Tahoe region. Google rents out an entire ski resort, such as past venues Squaw Valley and Heavenly, and fills parking lots with giant tents for late-night parties.
*yawn*
Mr. Chen definetly has a lot to smile about! a couple million dollar smile~
You know I’ve been looking at the pictures for about a half hour now and I still can’t find either Brin or Hurley or Chen.
Natali is a beautiful woman and I know that’s not the point of the article, but it does make the article more fun to read for some strange reason. I mean, as guys, are we more likely to read an article if it’s written by a beautiful woman that we can see a picture of. What if the article was written by a 5′2″, overweight, balding guy? Natali (if you’re reading this) I would have been smiling from ear to ear standing next to you. Whatever “it” is…baby, you got it.
Natali is hot. Enuf said.
ndc - aerobics instructor/tech columnist/fake bono hanger-on/tech tv commentator/tech blogger. makes sense.
http://www.gearlog.com/2006/09.....u_noob.php
at least you don’t have to be a hottie to make it as a woman in tech.
or something.
Hay Natali! You’re quite HOT! Are you single? If yes, why don’t we go out sometime???
You can reach me at vsohal (at) gmail.com.
Consider this to be your lucky day!
By the way, I think Chad was being a d**k because he’s losing his precious hair. He should call Bosley Medical, I bet he can afford it.
It’s always funny to see how money changes people. In the early days of YouTube, Chad was extremely nice to the media people. But I guess his real self is finally coming out now that he doesn’t need anyone.
Sorry the food was not up to your standards. Maybe you should not attend next time to protest! I will gladly go in your place.
I hope Michael provides you with the foods and pastries that your body desires.
C’mon, you got invited to a members-only type party and instead of giving us news we can use, we hear about the crappy food.
C’mon Natalie, let’s get on track!
All of this “Natali is hot” banter is lame. I appreciate the sentiment and my parents (who are not Mexican) thank you but enough already! I am not the poster girl for tech and have no aspirations along those lines.
Covering Google’s press event is a perfectly valid news topic. If you don’t want to read it, skip to the next post! Do you read every single news item on the other news blogs/sites that you visit? Certainly not EVERY topic will not interest EVERY reader but I think the “boom” or “bust” debate is one that we could certainly take on in this forum. So drop the comments about me personally and take a real stance on Web 2.0 for goodness sakes!
Geez, if you are in need of some eye candy then do a search on the Internet for Paris Hilton or something.
I cant believe one guy is actually trying to ask her out. Yeah man, she’s single and she’s going to respond to some creep that leaves her his email on an Internet msg board telling her that she’s hot. What do you expect? She’s going to be so flattered at this faceless person saying that she’s hot that she’s going to take you up on your offer and email you asking you out? How about a dose of reality and some appreciation for her actual work?
Nice article Natali, keep up the good work.
With all that is going on we are in a boom, but how long will this boom last? In my opinion maybe till summer of next year. What follows from such a momentous boom, another huge BUBBLE BURST. So get in while you can, take the money while you can, but be weary of summer of 07′ when web 3.0 will emerge and the fall of web 2.0 will take place.
How’s that for a response Natali? (=
Natalie, well put! Over here we all know you are a very smart, motivated and savvy reporter (and yes, we miss you).
@ Ron: Dude, if you think I’m seriously trying to ask Natali out, you’re crazy! That’s not my real email and no, I’m not some creep. IT WAS A JOKE!
@ Natali: Learn to take it easy. Damn! We’re all successful young people here just having a good time. No one is trying to give you a tough time. CHILL!