The demise of TimeDance, an online event-planning site, went relatively unnoticed this summer.
Businesses go under every day, of course.
Yet failure is becoming alarmingly common in Silicon Valley. About 45 Internet companies went out of business in the first eight months of this year, according to Webmergers, which tracks Web site mergers and acquisitions. That's hit thousands of people like an earthquake. On June 28, Stuart West, the company's vice president of business development, sent an e-mail to employees telling them TimeDance was going out of business. Software engineer spins his wheels waiting for transfer of his work visa.