'99: a .com needed a team of engineers and a big expensive server to try a new idea

'11: one guy, one weekend, and a day's pay for a cloud service to try a new idea

There are legitimate fundamental differences between then and now. Think about how many people toss up a weekend project for review here on HN that would have been a huge team effort back then. I'm not saying I can see the future (like a lot of people tried to then), but it doesn't seem as hazardous this time around.