Yes, we're in a tech bubble. Here's how I know it

FORTUNE ^ | 05/09/2014 | By Adam Lashinsky

[SeekAndFind]

When tech startups are willing to offer almost anyone -- even a journalist -- shares ahead of an IPO, a burst isn't terribly far behind.

I was surprised but not completely flabbergasted by the phone call I received a few weeks ago. A representative of Arista Networks, a networking company I've written about recently, phoned to inform me that the company's chief executive wanted to offer me "friends and family" shares in Arista's upcoming initial public offering. The offer was explicit, down to the number of shares I'd have the opportunity to purchase at the IPO price. The caller specifically wanted me to understand this offer came directly from CEO Jayshree Ullal.

I declined. I briefly explained that it was impossible for me to accept the gift that was being offered. I also told the (clearly uncomfortable) Arista rep, with whom I've dealt for stories for Fortune, that it is a horrible idea to be making these shares available to me. That's because the company must be similarly propositioning other business partners who, like me, are neither a friend of the company nor family members of its employees.

I never heard another word from the company, which hasn't yet gone public.

[albie]

Longest bubble I’ve ever seen.

[jiggyboy]

It’s nothing (yet) like the 2000 bubble. Back then, Howard Stern and his minions talked for hours on the air about which tech stocks to buy, companies simply made up non-economic metrics (”page visits”, e.g.) to justify an IPO or a stock price, and people were getting second mortgages just to buy tech stocks.

I don’t think we’ll be at the limit until we see a couple of those unmarked Google / Yahoo / Twitter luxury buses tipped over or torched.

[HamiltonJay]

This is a story about an example of an idiot company, not a bubble, believe me, I was at ground zero in the last bubble, what is going on now is nowhere near that. What mostly is going on is the fact a decade has been nearly lost between the last bubble bursting and the financial crisis, so you are seeing 10-15 years of undergrowth, start to come back hard.