Today in Tedium: How much was the Silicon Valley bubble responsible for the companies that failed the hardest at the turn of the 21st century? Conversely, how responsible were the basic ideas behind those companies for those failures? Was it really terrible timing, or a stock market that couldn’t support the tech world’s innovation during a hugely creative period? Or did the tech world simply prop up ideas, or at least businesses, that didn’t actually work? That’s a question that’s been debated heavily for years, particularly in regards to a certain company, featuring a sock-puppet mascot, that came and went in less than three years. Today’s Tedium talks about Pets.com, the company that was left eating its own dog food after the money ran out. — Ernie @ Tedium

$17M The amount that Pets.com spent on advertising in the second quarter of 2000, according to MarketWatch—its first full quarter on the stock market. Much of that advertising, of course, went toward promoting its famed sock puppet. Despite this massive amount of spending, the company’s revenue was just $8.8 million during that period. By November 6, 2000, the day before the presidential election, the company announced it was shutting down operations. (Fun fact: The voice of the sock puppet, which is still sold online for some reason, is Michael Ian Black. He described the job as "painful," due to all the hand movement.)

“When I had to really abandon the dream of starting Pets.com, I have to be honest and tell you those first couple of weeks were devastating. I was really, really down and I wasn't quite sure what to do next. And then I realized that I am just graduating from B-school, I have great experience, I'm going to be an asset to another company. I had to get my feet back on the ground and get my confidence back.” — Carolyn Everson, explaining in a video for CNN Money the feelings of heartbreak she had after she left Pets.com due to a clash with Wainwright over operations differences. Emerson ended up graduating from business school without a job, turning down multiple job offers due to the belief that she would be running Pets.com. Fortunately, it worked out for Everson, possibly better than anyone else involved with Pets.com: She’s the VP of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook.