I’ve always thought “man it would have been a great job selling shovels and pickaxes during the gold rush” back in the day.”
I know, I know, it’s really hard having these insights. We all have our crosses to bear. <giggling emoji>
I know, I know, it’s really hard having these insights. We all have our crosses to bear. <giggling emoji>
From the pure software side, Macromedia got acquired. RedHat was doing fine before IBM gobbled it up. But I honestly can't remember any other "picks and shovels" software companies from pre-dotcom.
And then I can't really remember many Internet-focused software pick&shovels companies from that era. I was only starting my professional career at that time, though.
Nortel - dead
Global crossing - dead
Netscape - dead (server) and/or dying (Mozilla)
Intel - almost dead
Palm - dead
Qualcomm - still around
Who else? Borland quietly withered away, but it had never been focused on tools specifically for the Internet.
It's actually really hard for the aristocracy to end up in a Florida trailer park.
A bunch of config management DSL startups, and web scale data storage solutions, not so much
Selling picks and shovels after the gold rush is a terrible idea.