> The dotcom era bubble specifically refers to Webvan-era companies, which were almost universally over-funded and over-valued based on outrageous speculation about the potential of the internet.

Webvan was a good idea with bad VCs. They were forced by their funders to expand to too many locations, for the "first mover advantage". So they had 3% market share in 30 cities, instead of 30% market share in 3 cities. Which means a lot of trucks. Which Webvan bought and owned. Webvan drivers were direct employees. The sub-minimum wage gig economy hadn't been worked out yet.

The people behind Webvan later did Kiva Systems and helped Amazon get warehouse automation going.