The video is a fast‑paced, TV‑style reel featuring Courtney Pulitzer as host and commentator on the late‑1990s dot‑com boom. It opens with a discussion of the market correction and the continued buzz among New York tech entrepreneurs, highlighting Pulitzer’s “Cocktails with Courtney” networking events that bring together investors, founders, and aspiring movers‑and‑shakers. Pulitzer offers practical advice on how to attend and survive networking parties, warning against over‑drinking, over‑talking, and stressing the importance of follow‑up. The reel then shifts to coverage of the South‑by‑Southwest Interactive conference and a whimsical DoubleClick‑sponsored Willy Wonka‑themed party, illustrating the era’s extravagant promotional stunts. An interview segment with Flooz.com co‑founder Robert Levitan follows, where he balances a light‑hearted industry attitude with serious business focus. The latter part of the reel transitions to lifestyle content, showcasing online home‑and‑garden planning tools (improvenet.com) and the women‑focused community portal iVillage, describing their features such as idea folders, bulletin boards, and interactive calculators. The segment closes with a brief commentary on gender representation in tech, positioning Pulitzer as a visible female figure in the space. Throughout, the tone remains conversational, enthusiastic, and promotional, with occasional cautionary notes.
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With the implosion of dot-com stocks, it's deadsville, right?
Not hardly. There's plenty of action going on there. In fact, there's maybe been a little break in the momentum, but we're picking up speed again. There's, you know, 4 parties a night on any given night in New York.
But are they nervous? Are they expressing a little anxiety about the future of the dot-com mania? It depends on who you're talking with.
Sure, some people are concerned and curious about what's going to happen, and I think people realize that the market, you know, definitely had a correction and all those things that the analysts have talked about. But I think for the most part, people who are working in the alley are enthusiastic and hopeful because everyone is so enthusiastic about their product or website or service.
And Monday night, he and other new media entrepreneurs may have hit the networking jackpot.
You know, everywhere you go, whoever you're talking to, that sort of determines God sends the next step for you.
It's called Cocktails with Courtney, a low-key event that's designed to draw the movers and shakers together.
People have come here and sort of signed the deal with their venture capitalist, or have come with a check in hand, or people who have left sort of arm in arm with their new business partner.
It's a place where the next big idea website you'll visit may take hold.
Don't worry if you're not blessed with the gift of gab.
Start going out to events, even if you don't talk to anyone. It's just going to get you more comfortable in the situation. And then slowly start talking to one person, maybe two people. You don't need to feel like, or you don't have to go to everyone in the room. You don't need to talk with everyone that's at the event. Just start little by little.
Pulitzer throws monthly parties for the net set. She says while you don't need to be Prince Charming to succeed, steer clear of becoming Homer Simpson.
Overdrinking, overeating in a situation, drilling someone like a drill sergeant or grilling them. So that they feel uncomfortable with your line of questioning, maybe invading someone's space. It's— think of things that you would probably do on a first date when you're trying to impress someone.
Finally, once you schmooze it, use it. Make notes on the business cards you've gotten and be sure to follow up within a few days.
The South by Southwest conference started with a focus in music, but 6 years ago it expanded into film and interactive. Now people from both coasts converge here for a melding of minds to discuss all things creative and technical in the interactive space. And while you're in the city of Austin, it's hard not to have a fantastic time while you're doing it.
No one denies that music is the main Naphtown, but there are plenty of people who recognize the high-tech business also as a major headliner, and the South by Southwest Interactive Conference grows larger every year.
Thank you for calling flooz.com.
The internet space seems to be getting more and more crowded, but there's one company that has a lot going for it. Flooz.com has a dedicated staff, a celebrity spokesperson, and Robert Levitan, the co-founder and CEO. I sat down with Robert to find out how this how this veteran got to where he is today.
I'm okay.
So Robert, a lot of people work hard in this industry to be taken seriously. You've got Chief Floozer on your business card.
How did that happen?
Well, I don't think we should take ourselves too seriously. I mean, this is a fun industry, and I think that's part of my motto. And it's hard to maintain it, but not to take myself, or for any of us here, not to take ourselves too seriously, but to take our business very seriously. And I think that's one of the things we can do with web company, you know.
In this segment, we like to stir things up and check out the party scene. New Yorkers really know how to put on a party, and this week there was no shortage of them.
An alley veteran famous for big, splashy, all-out theme parties, DoubleClick didn't disappoint with their spin of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Roxy turned into Wonka Land, and there were more like 700 not 7 lucky guests with golden ticket invites in their chocolate bar.
So, Kevin, we've got Willy Wonka and DoubleClick and this great big party. What's the connection?
Oh no, I was afraid you were going to ask me that. All right, I got this down now, finally. Willy Wonka is where all your dreams could come true. So the internet is where all your dreams can come true. And of course, if you do business with DoubleClick, we believe that's where all your— all advertiser dreams could come true.
That's right. I see people like in Never Never Land stuffing their pockets with candy. I suppose people are wanting to stuff their websites with great ads from DoubleClick.
Yeah.
Thank you.
All right. We're going to finish up Live Online Week with house and garden information. With us to show us what's possible on the net from Yahoo Magazine is Courtney Pulitzer. Good to have you. Nice to see you again. Thank you. Nice seeing you.
Thank you.
Now we're finally going to get to something after a long week that might even get me on the web, because I love house and garden stuff.
Yes, I know that you've done a few projects. And the first thing, I'm sure as you know, with any home project, whether it's redoing your whole home or just redecorating a room or fixing a leaky faucet, is planning and research.
And a lot of people are terrified of the whole thing, aren't they?
It can seem quite daunting.
Yeah.
And now imagine that you could plan and design your whole project online without having to schlep all of these magazines and wallpaper samples and dragging Frank with you to the designers and seeing all these different showrooms. You can do it all online. Another site that's really nice is improvenet.com. They've got some information right here from the home page, help me do a project. The one thing I really like about this site is that they have this idea folder where you can browse all of these different pictures that they have online and save them to your idea file. It's your own personalized area. So again, you don't have to worry about, like, dragging a folder around with you with clips and where to put them.
So much of it is the dragging of things everywhere.
Right, and so it can all get saved here. You could even give your information to your designer, and she could go online and check it herself, and then you can talk about it later.
Thanks, Scott. Whether you've heard of iVillage or not, this site is a top destination for information on parenting, health, health, fitness, finance, and more.
Through the use of bulletin boards, chat rooms, and personalized newsletters, iVillage provides a rich community resource for women and men.
There are also many interactive features as well, such as a health calculator to help you watch that waistline, a baby name finder which allows you to find that perfect name for your newborn, and even a debt reduction planner, especially useful after tax time. So check out iVillage today and you'll soon find yourself immersed in a virtual village of information.
And you see like the superstars are like guys from Bill Gates on down to you two guys. It's predominantly male. Now when are we going to see a female superstar?
