A dot-com party (often known as an Internet party or more generally, a launch party) is a social and business networking
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
hosted by an Internet-related business, typically for promotional purposes or to celebrate a corporate event such as a product launch,
venture funding round, or
corporate acquisition
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
.
History
Dot-com parties became a notorious part of the culture of the American "
dot-com" business era of 1997 to 2001, particularly in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
.
Dot-com parties, compared to "scenes from ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsb ...
''",
were markedly different from conventional corporate entertainment, which tends to be more private, and often fancier if less ostentatious. Common features of dot-com parties included live bands, decorations,
product demonstration In marketing, a product demonstration (or ''"demo"'' for short) is a promotion where a product is demonstrated to potential customers. The goal is to introduce customers to the product in hopes of getting them to purchase that item.
Products offere ...
s,
gatecrashers, exotic or fancy venues, excessive alcohol consumption, and "