Internet Entrepreneurs, The

Introduction

Amid the jostling to be annointed as one of Silicon Valley's success stories, the tale of Infoseek makes for more sobering reading.

The search engine portal was founded by Steve Kirsch in 1993. Renowned for its smart technology and having the advantage of getting into the fledgling internet market early, commentators took it for granted - as the group's successful IPO demonstrated - that Infoseek would fly alongside the likes of Yahoo and Excite. Yet, as early as November 1996, the group was announcing a revamp of its site and services, with the very same commentators asking 'What is Infoseek's strategy?'

The writing was already on the wall for Infoseek

There were early indicators of the group's shortcomings. In the race to develop ...