We entered a remarkable moment in history when the whole idea of trying to build a great company seemed quaint and outdated. "Built to Flip" became the mantra of the day. Just tell people you were doing something, anything, connected to the internet, and - presto you became rich by flipping shares to the public, even if you had no profits (or even a real company). Why take all the hard steps to go from buildup to breakthrough, creating a model that actually works, when you could yell "New technology!" or "New economy!" and convince people to give you hundreds of millions of dollars?