A Very Public Offering: The Story of theglobe.com and the First Internet Revolution

by Stephan Paternot (Author)

15 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1732932401

ISBN-10: 1732932409

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In the volatile world of internet start-ups, it can take just a nanosecond to lose it all. A decade before Facebook, Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman created the first social network in their college dorm room. After a meteoric rise, theglobe.com became world-famous for its billion-dollar IPO, only to quickly plummet toward the depths. This very personal history details what it was like to witness the chaotic birth of the internet industry. One of the poster boys of the dot-com era, Stephan rode the wild high of seeing his digital dreams come true, only to confront the sometimes-ugly reality of being the youngest-ever CEO of a public company. As Stephan navigated a fledgling and cutthroat industry, he struggled to keep his company afloat. Chronicling a surreal, upside-down period in American corporate history, A Very Public Offering tells the dramatic personal story of a young man’s rocket toward success, and what happens when it all falls apart. Reissued to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of theglobe.com’s IPO and adding powerful and practical lessons for a new generation of start-up founders, this edition expands upon Stephan’s story featured in the National Geographic TV series Valley of the Boom.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Like a modern-day Dickens, Stephan Paternot witnessed the best and worst of times." -Los Angeles Times

"Stephan Paternot, former CEO of theglobe.com and world-famous instant millionaire, offers up an engaging memoir that documents the dramatic rise and precipitous fall of the online company he founded. Although Paternot generously shares his personal experiences and struggles, his book also serves as a capsule history of a particular moment in American culture, a moment in which Wall Street's mania for Internet ventures allowed capital to be invested with a seeming disregard for con- sequences or common sense . . . The next chapter in Stephan Paternot's life is bound to be interesting, and probably successful as well." -Barnes & Noble Review

"Part morality tale, part fairy tale, and part college diary. . . The book is hard not to like. Mr. Paternot ably captures one of life's rare moments, when the spotlight is shining on you and you haven't figured out yet that it will soon go dark." -Wall Street Journal

"It's a first-person account by somebody who lived through the roller coaster." -Entertainment Weekly

"In this giddy, fast-moving memoir, [Paternot] wisely focuses on the day-to-day mania of the mid and late 90s Internet Revolution, vividly showing what it felt like to run a brand-new company racing headlong across unknown terrain." -Publishers Weekly

"It was the greatest Cinderella story in Silicon Alley history." -New York Post

Product details

Publisher : Actarus Press (November 8, 2018)
Language : English
Paperback : 279 pages
ISBN-10 : 1732932409
ISBN-13 : 978-1732932401
Item Weight : 12.6 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,531,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #569 in Computer & Technology Biographies
- #826 in Business Infrastructure
- #1,012 in Social Media for Business

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peter feuer and ann podlipny

wonderful read

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2018

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This is an amazing morality tale about a young upstart and his startup company who remarkably stays fresh and uncorrupted by the media and stock holders to whom he becomes beholden. He has rare insight, good instincts and a wonderfully wry sense of humor to see him through tough times. He describes his journey in cultural, historical and psychological terms and in so doing makes it fascinating for a wide readership.

2 people found this helpful

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michael j. monahan

Paternot Knocks It out of the park!

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2020

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A fast-paced, internet tale of the founding of the globe.com. Paternot is an excellent writer. You have a ringside seat to the founding, rise, collapse and rebirth of internet based businesses. I would recommend this book to any entrepreneur, business student or anyone looking for a fast, great business read.

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Amazon Customer

Facebook before Facebook

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2021

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I loved the adventure I went through while reading this book. I felt as though I was going through all of this myself. If you enjoy learning about the beginning of the internet then you will enjoy this book.

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H. P.

An inside look at the dot.com bubble

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2019

A Very Public Offering is the story of how two students at Cornell started an Internet company and wound up worth $97 million by their early twenties . . . and out of a job and worth just a few million by their mid-twenties. theglobe.com was one of the first dot-com bubble cautionary tales. It also helped pioneered use of the Internet for community and Silicon Alley in NYC. And, believe it or not, but for a little irrational exuberance it might have been a viable community.

Stephen Paternot and Todd Krizelman started theglobe.com while they were students at Cornell. A Very Public Offering is Paternot’s account. It was originally published in 2001. This new edition includes a new intro and afterword (it probably isn’t worth the purchase price if you already own the original version). Paternot landed on his feet: he got into film producing and founded a film finance startup.

The prose and the narrative are a little rough, but it is too good a story for that to slow it down. It was a heady time. theglobe.com IPO was priced at $8 but its share hit $97 on the first day. The even crazier part is that sixteen million shares traded hands the day of a three-million-share deal. The initial run up gave Paternot, who owned a million shares, a net worth of $97 million . . . on paper. Fourteen months later the stock price was down to $7. Paternot and Krizelman stepped down as co-CEOs when the stock dipped all the way to $2. (Most of Paternot’s shares were locked in, but Paternot did manage to sell enough shares to not lose everything.)

theglobe.com comes off as a little snake bit. Its pre-IPO road show came right as the NASDAQ dropped bigtime. It never got the truly crazy valuations of some other dot coms and didn’t raise as much money as later companies. It turns out that their investment bankers Bear Stearns screwed them. A secondary offering closed days after Alan Greenspan issued his famous warning about “irrational exuberance” and raised rates. Despite having at one point 30,000 paying subscribers and later a user base sufficient to bring in real advertising revenue. Maybe snake bit isn’t the right term. On one hand, theglobe.com had more actual revenue than a lot of Internet companies with far higher valuations. Does it make any sense for a company twenty times bigger than at its IPO date to be worth one-hundredth as much? On the other hand, it still wasn’t undervalued.

It was a fascinating time. But maybe it wasn’t all that different. Paternot complains (maybe a little too much) about how unfair the press was to him (but, then again, you shouldn’t be hitting the clubs every night when you’re CEO of a public company, and you should never be wearing plastic pants). And apparently message boards were as toxic twenty years ago as they are today.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of the revised edition of A Very Public Offering via NetGalley.

3 people found this helpful

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More relevant than ever - GREAT Performance

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2018

Coming from the middle of the Silicon Valley, and being part of the "boom" made this a must read 20 years ago. I was fascinated then, however, I just finished listening to the audible version and found it's message more relevant than ever. But even more, Stephan Paternot's personal performance was captivating. You could hear the passion in his voice underscore the roller coaster of a journey he took. I felt it, I related to it. It was like sitting in a coctail bar and sitting accross from him as he told the story. The lessons are especially important to newbie entrepreneurs! Be wary of Investment bankers who's job it is to exploit someone else's success; don't give away your control to investors only interested in short term profit; recognize that insecurity isolates you from your people and never wear plastic pants out in public. Don't miss the epilogue! It brings it all full circle and seems to find closure for the 24 year old CEO who found his way back, stronger and now well armed to win in his new journey.

One person found this helpful

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A lucky bystander to history

Dream. Do. Repeat.

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2018

This story is an amazing look at an incredible time in the history of “new media.” These guys were blazing a trail towards the many things, especially social media, that we take for granted today. But it’s really a story about what I believe makes America great. It almost sounds cliche, as it seems to happen over and over: A couple of guys meet in an Ivy League dorm room and the world is forever changed. But what is often missed is the journey upon which they embark. All the hits, misses, joys, tragedies, and moments of doubt on the road to success - however that might be measured. Stephan’s story captures the journey and it’s so exciting to be along for the ride. Oh, and by the way, I was along for the ride! A must read for any entrepreneur. And a blast of a story for anyone else drunk with the American dream.

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J. Nelson

This guy inspired me more than Mark Zuckerberg

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2021

Being a Senior in High School when The Social Network came out I, like a lot that went into tech around my age, was given a spark by that film. Around that same time I became obsessed with the 1990's dot-com bubble and its mania as just a very inspiring time for capitalist success.

Stephan Paternot's success, while not as long-lasting as Mark Z's, was more inspiring to me. He was a poster child for the era, and I would highly recommend his book to a young entrepreneur.

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Eric Pantonen

The Story of the world's first social media platform

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2018

Amazingly fun read! First person style narrative that takes on the crazy journey that was late 90's tech its hype and its crazy downfall as the bubble burst. Before Facebook there was theglobe.com. I guess sometimes you can be too early for your own good.

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Top reviews from other countries

Thierry

Fun and thoughtful

Reviewed in France on December 16, 2018

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I know Stephan, so I read the first edition of this book almost 20 years ago. I found this completely rewritten second edition much improved. It is fun to read, thoughtful in its analysis and comments.

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A Very Public Offering: The Story of theglobe.com and the First Internet Revolution

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