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Where Does The Aeron Chair Fit Into The History Of Dot Coms?
from the what-to-expect-from-a-dot-com-failure dept
What's the first thing you should look for in the offices of a failed (or failing) dot com? Maybe you should see how many Aeron chairs they have. A somewhat obsessed "expert" has determined that any company that has more than 10 Aeron chairs falls into the stupid pile. These chairs retail for something around $700 and seem to be the classic symbol of dot com excess. A friend of mine recently was telling me about a somewhat new (but fairly well hyped) San Francisco startup that he says hasn't figured out that it's not 1998 any more. Part of the proof? Everyone there has an Aeron chair.
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but they are so comfortable.
Have you ever sat in one? I have an Aeron chair which I bought new from a dot-com during the glory days. They beat ordinary cheap desk chairs to a pulp.
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My Ass...
...is firmly planted in one as I speak, and I'm not at a dot com. For someone who spends 8+ hours a day at a computer workstation, (said workstation costing tens of thousands and said person costing hundreds of thousands) a few hundred bucks on a decent chair is not a big deal.
I'd agree that other "facilities" foosball tables are getting excessive, but let's look at the excessive "launch" parties ("launch" is quoted because it's hard to have a launch if you don't actually have a product, IMHO), as the sign of dot-com excess, not the chairs.
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Another followup
It's mentioned in the article that Aeron chairs are still fetching a lot of money at dead dot com auctions. If that's the case, even at 50 cents on the dollar, then they are arguably some of the better investments that the dot coms made.
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Airons are great but...
Ppl at my company buy their own, and we have a label on each marked "Personal property -- Do not inventory" for the benefit of jumpy VCs who visit (and to keep people from asking for one "just like the one the company bought Fred").
At a dotcom auction they were a great deal -- $50 each.
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