Small Business Toolbox

A library of business management info

 Print  |  E-mail  | -- Font | ++ Font | rss.gif
Xbox 360 Is the New Foosball Table
03/ 31/ 2006
by Harvey King

Many years ago, back before all of the dotcom zillionaires became bartenders, I wrote a column in this very space about Foosball tables. At the time, it seemed every story about start-up technology companies included a mention of how their Foosball table served as the focal point of corporate communion--and a handy stress reliever after working 20-hour days and sleeping under one's desk.

Given a few years of reflection, however, there is a school of revisionists emerging who suggest that many of the underlying concepts of the Foosball table start-ups were actually pretty good ideas: It was the out-of-whack expectations of financial markets that caused the bust, so the theory goes. Too much money being thrown at "concepts" by VCs and overhyped IPOs led to hubris and doom--and a glut of used Foosball tables.

I'll leave such debates to historians and economists, but this I know: There's a groundswell of new technology garage start-ups who say they don't want VC investors because, if what I'm reading is correct, the cost of computer servers, bandwidth and Foosball tables has dropped to almost nothing. In fact, the Foosball tables aren't necessary anymore because the people starting these companies live in far-flung places and do their playing together online.

The other day, I was reading a profile of one such new company that, if I understand this correctly, has a way to merge music playlists into Google maps and GPS files so that while you're driving along the highway, the background music on your car changes with the scenery. (Granted, I may have misunderstood exactly what they are doing.)

Back in the old days (1999), the two guys who were doing this would have already received VC backing and would by now be getting featured in some business magazine with their red-eyed employees posed around the Foosball table. I was happy to learn, however, that not only does the current start-up not have a Foosball table, they don't even have a place to put a Foosball table. In fact, they live in different cities and time zones.

They also say they have no need for capital or funding as they already have positive cash flow due to the fact they live with their parents and haven't invested in Foosball tables. They met online playing Xbox 360, they say.

No word yet on whether or not they've discovered how comfortable it is when you play Xbox while sitting in a used Herman Miller Aeron chair.
Small Business Sound Off
Does this story hit home?  Share your story with us
 Print  |  E-mail  | -- Font | ++ Font | rss.gif