Ideas person first, followed by super salesman, Internet expert and accountant last. Dot-com valuations were, for a while, astonishing. A fifth were super-optimists, thinking they had more than five years before market reality dawned. A majority of incumbents gave dot-coms less than two years before markets treated them in the same way. Dot-coms know that time is up, with more than half of them expecting traditional valuations within two years.
Nobody goes into business expecting to fail.
Equally, one should not underestimate the opposition. All incumbent companies stated they were best placed, as clicks and mortar companies. Interviewees among incumbents were the most senior people responsible for e-commerce strategy. At dot-coms, the founding partner or senior manager was interviewed.