Dot Com Dreams Deferred
Helen Lee
April 1, 2001
I used to think that starting my own company would be the hardest thing that I would ever do. But I was wrong. The hardest thing about launching SmartBride.com has been facing its imminent demise.
Eighteen months ago, I would never have predicted that I would be in this position. As one of the few from my M.B.A. class who had started their own companies after graduation, I was being heralded as the next great success story from Babson College. After I raised an initial round of funding for my company, the chorus of affirmation only grew stronger. From being a cover girl on Babson's quarterly alumni magazine, to serving as a guest speaker at many an undergraduate and graduate school class, I was in demand.
The climax of the attention came in April 2000, during Babson's annual Founder's Day celebration. It's a day that honors well-known and accomplished entrepreneurs and anoints the year's newest crop of potential business leaders. I was chosen to represent this new generation, which meant that I was given a seat at the table of honor for the evening's five-course dinner. I still remember how it felt to arrive at the five-hundred-person event, during which I was easily recognized (thanks to the aforementioned cover story) and was approached by many as if I had some sort of magic aura that would grant success to anyone who shared space with me. I was graciously guided through the masses to my table one seat, and despite the fact that I had done very little to deserve such notice, I could not help feeling elated by the outpouring of support. If this were a precursor to what true success would feel like, I was more than happy to receive it.
And then the NASDAQ began to fall.
A few months later, SmartBride.com had not recovered from ...
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