Why this tech party isn’t like 1999

Related: Tech bubble 2.0? Nasdaq nears 5K again

Eyeballs vs. earnings: Back then companies like Pets.com and Internet delivery services Webvan and Kozmo.com raced into the public markets at huge valuations, despite the fact they generated no profits and often little to no revenue.

Investors basically had to invent their own performance metrics like “eyeballs” — how many users were looking at these websites — to justify those lofty price tags.

Just look at the eye-popping valuations venture-backed companies like SnapChat, Pinterest, Uber and even Shazam are reported to have landed in recent weeks.

“If anything, it seems like there could be a bubble forming in the private markets,” Kessler said.

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