by Alexia Tsotsis, Ethan Kurzweil, Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer and Peter Pham
The blogosphere is abuzz with bubble talk and predictions of a spectacular collapse just over the horizon. Is the Internet finally coming home to roost? Or have investors and entrepreneurs thrown caution to the wind and are recklessly ignoring the lessons of 1999?
Structured as a debate, this session will feature top VCs, entrepreneurs, and reporters with strongly opposing points of view on the current climate. We will ensure representation from the current crop of Internet darlings. The panel will begin by presenting data on new VC financings and IPOs – and then let the panel weigh in with their interpretation of the data. The moderator will be sure to provoke fact-based arguments from each panelist and to ensure lots of debate on how to characterize the current market. And we’ll end by forcing each panelist to make a prediction as to what the rest of 2012 will look like.
The organizers will ensure a current panel by inviting recognizable entrepreneurs with recent financings or exits to participate.