Internet executives said they think the economy will continue to be strong for the stock market and for start-up businesses at a discussion of e-business, technology and public policy at Collis Common Ground last Friday.
Discussion panelists included Jesse DeVitte, founder and president of Vertical Market Systems, Jon Logan Edwards, president of Mediaplex, Inc., David W. Hanna, CEO of Sage US, Inc., and Floyd Kvamme, partner of the Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers venture capital firm.
The executives on the panel were members of the George W. Bush for President National Information Technology Council. All wore blue denim shirts with "Bush for President 2000" logos.
The first half of the 90-minute discussion was lead by moderator Philip J. Ferneau of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration. Topics included technology stock prices, possible Internet sales tax, and the role of government in promoting the Internet.
Internet stock price valuations produced a variety of reactions from the panelists.
"We know [the prices] are high ... [but] if you look at how high they will be in a few years, it starts to make sense," Hanna said.
Hanna said he thinks "premium" Internet companies like Amazon.com and eBay will continue to have high valuation throughout the year.
Kvamme expressed concern about historical parallels between today's soaring stocks and past financial meltdowns, comparing it to Japanese real estate prices in the 1980s and their catastrophic fall.
However, he said he is still optimistic about the market, adding that he owns stock in Amazon.com.
Panelists gently disagreed on whether to extend the current 3-year federal moratorium on sales Internet sales tax.
"Washington is not very good at figuring out Internet issues," Edwards said adding however that he thought a permanent ban on Internet sales tax would be reckless and disingenuous.
Kvamme said that in most states, the ban on Internet sales tax is undermined by "use tax" laws by which people are legally taxed for the goods they possess, regardless of how they were bought. This means an Internet sales tax would be a bad idea, he said.
Panelists agreed that the "digital divide" between those who have access to the internet and those who do not is a worsening problem.
"Youngsters aren't getting a very good shake in the public school system," Kvamme said of Internet instruction.
Edwards said he believes that humanitarian groups will solve the digital divide without government help.
During the second half of the panel discussion, questions were fielded from two microphones in the audience.
A woman asked how higher education should prepare graduates for the high-tech job market.
DeVitte said general business sense was important for all young people, adding that he gave his children Internet domain names for Christmas.
Colleges and universities should have "well-designed courses," Hanna said. "If I were president of an innovative [business] school," he said, he would demand "entrepreneurial action plans" from his students.
A Dartmouth student asked how venture capital firms decide where to invest their money.
"We don't invest in any company where we can't add value," Kvamme said. "Don't take money [from a venture firm] if they don't supply help and advice in addition to money."
"I'm an angel investor," Hanna said. "Frankly, now there's so much money available "" what we are looking for is good people, big ideas and enthusiasm."
Panelists also discussed the possibilities created by massive growth in Internet stocks.
"If you happen to have a high stock price, you can use that as an acquisition tool," Kvamme said, reflecting on the America Online/Time-Warner merger.
Others asked questions about the future of privacy and non-disclosure agreements.
On privacy, Edwards predicted a "labyrinth of new laws" to protect consumers from covert data gathering. "Turn off the cookies," he said of the common, intrusive identity trackers used on the World Wide Web.
