Marty, The Dot Com Cleanup Guy, Not Doing So Well These Days

Failures

from the no-dot-comes-to-cleanup dept

Remember Marty, the dot com cleanup guy? That would be Marty Pichinson, founder and CEO of Sherwood Partners, who was all over the press in the post-dot com bubble days. Sherwood Partners was the firm that the big VCs called in to help liquidate all those dot bombs. For a few years, Marty just couldn’t stay out of the press. Even in 2004, Marty claimed he was still going strong, moving the business from Los Angeles to Palo Alto, hiring lots of help and opening satellite offices. Unfortunately, though, for Marty, Bubble 2.0 has come along, and the latest profile notes that the dot com cleanup business may be in need of some cleaning up itself. Sherwood Partners has shut down the satellite offices, cut its staff in half, and is trying to reinvent its reputation not as liquidation specialists, but as experts who can help a company last longer. However, Sherwood’s reputation as the gleeful “cleaner” of dot com busts isn’t helping the company. The article quotes a few different VCs who all clearly distance themselves from the company, insisting that all of their portfolio firms are doing well and are in no need of Marty’s kind of help. Of course, like most things, these types of businesses tend to be cyclical. When the next bubble bursts, we’re sure there will be plenty of business around for Marty, assuming he’s still in business himself.