In 1985 the first domain name was registered. I was still resting comfortably in my mother’s womb. In the mid 1990’s, domains started to become more affordable for the average person. Some saw potential in these internet properties and bought common dictionary terms by the hundreds, even thousands. Other individuals started services that would cater to the new digital market: engines to find information, commerce sites to purchase items securely online, online communities. During this time, I was starting to become familiar with American Online and still did not grasp the concept of “the Internet”. 2000 comes along, the world has not blown up yet as a result of Y2K, but more importantly I finally get high-speed internet. By this time, internet companies had proved that they can be profitable. Although many “inefficient” internet companies went offline [as in bankrupt], others survived. Nonetheless, there was still a lot room for entry, prime services were still waiting to be dominated. From 2001-2005, it seems like almost every single niche and every single domain has been claimed, the internet sponge is becoming saturated.

Age may not play a factor when you are starting an internet business but I feel cheated that I couldn’t enter the market sooner, say when I was 10. If I had the same mentality I do now at that early age, there would be no question that I would have a mega-site on my hands right now. One of the major advantages of starting a website early is establishment, like with anything else. The most established services are the ones that stay popular (as long as you are smart enough to offer what any new competitor does). But now in 2006, almost all the services out there already are nearly perfect, well perfected and established enough not to leave for a new service. How am I going to compete with MySpace and its 50 million users? Or Google and its firm hold as a cultural and technological icon as the “premiere search engine”? There are services out there much better than MySpace: faster, more features, better support, yet no one is switching. Why would you switch when all your friends are already on MySpace? Establishment outweighs all feature-benefits.

Will the little man still have the chance to start-up internet juggernauts? Or is it only the once-little-man-now-juggernaut that are going to control the internet scene, now and forever? I sincerely hope that surfers give new companies a chance to prove their worth.