What can today's founders learn from the 2000 dotcom bubble burst?

Welcome to TechCrunch+ Tuesday

The late 1990s were a fascinating time to work in startups and live in San Francisco.

I didn’t need to be an economist to realize that many of the companies I worked for and patronized were lacking solid fundamentals: The same startups that offered in-house massages, catered meals and laundry service were also purchasing Super Bowl ads and freeway billboards.

I still have storage crates in my kitchen from Webvan, a grocery delivery contender that flamed out so famously, MBA candidates now study it in business school. Similarly, messenger bags for Kozmo.com, which promised to bring “videos, games, DVDs, music, mags, books, food, basics & more” to customers in 60 minutes or less, sell today for $350 and up on Etsy.

By 2000, many of these high-fliers had left smoking craters behind. Anna Barber was VP of Product at Petstore.com when her company was sold off in a fire sale to Pets.com, a competitor.

“We laid off our staff except one person, who stayed around with the CEO to help wind down the company and settle up with all our creditors,” says Barber, now a partner at M13. “That person was me.”

Today at noon PT/3 pm ET, she’ll join me to talk about how today’s startup operators can avoid many of the missteps founders made in past downturns.

We’ll discuss the economic, social and emotional impact created when so many companies close their doors at once, and Barber will talk about how founders can align with their investors and employees while managing through uncertainty.

This Twitter Space is open to everyone, so I hope you’ll join the chat.

Thanks for reading,
Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

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You’ve sold your company. Now what?

Scaling a company from conception to acquisition is a real accomplishment, but it’s not the finish line, according to investor and frequent TC+ contributor, Marjorie Radlo-Zandi.

“You may wonder if the acquirer truly understands your products, values, culture or the customer needs that drive the business,” she writes. “Staff will wonder if there’ll be a place for them as a part of another company.”

In her latest column, she shares “six guiding principles that will set a transaction up for success” and help you achieve your full earnout.

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“The top enterprise e-commerce platforms have added more than 10,000 merchants,” according to co-founder Ashwin Ramasamy, who compared the relative performance of Shopify Plus, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Drupal Commerce, and four other players.

“That’s immense, especially as the year is still far from over, and these platforms already have just 1,000 merchants shy of last year.”

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Remote work is the new normal, especially for engineers, says Alex Circei, CEO and co-founder of development analytics tool Waydev. But using DORA metrics, CTOs, CEOs and HR managers can “get back on the same page to support their tech teams and business outcomes.”

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“In other words, investment opportunities in climate tech are just warming up,” he writes.

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For LatAm payment orchestration startups, market fragmentation is a blessing in disguise

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It’s also true that e-commerce is growing faster there than in any other region since the pandemic began. According to one study, online sales in LatAm will generate $379 billion in, a 32% year-over-year increase.

“The payments landscape in Latin America seems hopelessly fragmented and riddled with fraud,” says Rocio Wu, a principal at F-Prime Capital.

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