I read today that a Chicago-based web startup just raised a $30M round of venture capital. Aside from the size of the round, what really caught my attention was this company's central idea.
As I read about this company, I felt goose bumps as I realized I had written a business plan based on the exact same idea more than ten years ago (during the first Internet bubble).
While I worked my day job back then, I would come home and work on starting this company in my spare time. I worked on the business plan, identified key hires, recruited a co-founder, spoke to potential angel investors, etc. I invested quite a bit of time and energy trying to get the company off the ground. I had grand visions of world domination through the company.
I eventually gave up on developing that company as I found out how difficult it was to get a company off the ground. I was also tired of having to work a day job while trying to get the company going. And I simply wasn't mature enough to persevere. I chose the easy way out.
Years later, as the Internet progressed and the Googles and Facebooks came on the scene, I remember thinking, "hey, how come no one has executed on that idea I was working on? Maybe it wasn't such a great idea after all. Perhaps It's a good thing after all that I gave up on it....."
Today, this particular company that just got the $30M VC investment is on track to do $100M in revenues in 2010! Considering the company was launched only a year ago, those numbers are simply as phenomenal as they are incredible.
Why do I feel utterly annoyed at this very moment?
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