By silicon.com, 16 March 2004 17:40
NEWS 16.03.99: An Anglo-American start-up today launches what it claims will become the de facto currency of the web.
Beenz is both the name of the company and the e-currency - surfers can earn them by using certain websites, banner ads or online questionnaires.
The company, which launches with offices in London, New York and San Francisco, predicts 10 million people will have active accounts by the end of the year. Chairman and CEO Philip Letts told silicon.com: "This is going to be the web's currency. It has been designed to be universal and tests we've done make us confident it will work."
16.03.04: Oh dear. The problem with bold assertions is that they go one of two ways.
Five years down the line you could either be saying "we told you so" - or more commonly for online businesses you're left with egg (or should that be Beenz) on your face.
Letts' claim that a year from its launch Beenz would be thriving with 10 million users might more accurately have stated that a year from launch Beenz would be going downhill faster than a Swiss bobsleigh team.
By mid-2001 the company was filing for bankruptcy and unlike Jack, of Beanstalk fame, it's very unlikely the creditors would ever settle for being paid in Beenz.
Still, greatness never came from playing it safe, so you have to admire the gamble - one of just many outlandish ventures during the insanity of the dot-com boom. But armed with hindsight and accepting that it is a wonderful thing, you do find yourself asking 'what were they thinking?'.
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