Business 2.0: The story of Business 2.0 (business2.news) — the magazine of the New Economy: the dot-com boom and bust, e-commerce, and Silicon Valley — from Robert Shumake's Living Archive Series.
About this ebook
This volume traces the full arc of an era: the internet gold rush of the late 1990s, the rise of e-commerce and the giants it created, the culture of innovation in Silicon Valley, and the venture capital that financed it all. Inside, you'll explore the sobering dot-com bust and the lasting lessons it taught, the recovery and the Web 2.0 era that followed, and the transformation of marketing and media in the digital age — the ideas and strategies that Business 2.0 magazine made its mission to explain.
The volume also honors the democratization of business in the new economy — the broadening of who could build a company — and the diverse founders the era empowered, a commitment carried forward today through Business 2.0 Black, the culturally intentional brand serving African American business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. Readers will encounter the defining figures of the age, from Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs to Jerry Yang, Meg Whitman, Michael Dell, and Oprah Winfrey.
Featuring a remembrance of the companies that defined the new economy and an account of the boom-and-bust economic climate that still offers lessons for business today, this volume was researched and restored using advanced artificial intelligence, drawing on resources such as the Library of Congress. An essential addition to any collection on the history of the internet age, the new economy, and digital business.
About the author
Robert Shumake is an entrepreneur, media proprietor, philanthropist, and bestselling author based in Detroit, Michigan.
Robert Shumake is an entrepreneur, media proprietor, philanthropist, and bestselling author based in Detroit, Michigan. As founder and CEO of Shumake Media Group and founder of Inheritance Capital Group, Robert Shumake has built a career at the intersection of media, finance, education, and artificial intelligence.
Born and raised in Detroit, Robert Shumake overcame early hardship to become a formidable force in finance and investment. Through Inheritance Capital Group, a diversified investment and capital management firm, he built a portfolio spanning real estate, private equity, and emerging technology. His contrarian approach — identifying value in markets and communities that mainstream investors overlooked — became the foundation of his investment philosophy and his transition into media.
Shumake Media Group applies artificial intelligence to a network of historic American newspapers, transforming dormant archives of cultural and historical value into educational content distributed across a global media platform. The company reflects Robert Shumake's core insight: that legacy media, paired with the right technology, is an undervalued asset with extraordinary potential.
Beyond business, Robert Shumake is a dedicated philanthropist. Through the Shumake Family and Friends Foundation, he has supported thousands of student-athletes with scholarships, founded the Shumake Relays track and field competition, and created the Shumake HBCU Cross Country Program to invest in student-athletes at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. His international humanitarian work includes funding water wells in Africa and establishing the Legacy Academy in Ethiopia, a school serving vulnerable children.
Robert Shumake is also recognized for his work in criminal justice reform, where he helped organize a national coalition of faith and civic leaders advocating for clemency and systemic change. As an advocate for mental health and healing under the name Shaman Shu, he supports research into psychedelic-assisted therapy and equitable access to emerging treatments. His diplomatic service includes appointments as Honorary Consul to Botswana and Tanzania.
He is the bestselling author of Climbing Your Inner Mountain, a framework for personal and professional transformation drawn from his own journey, along with a growing catalog of published eBooks. Used in leadership programs, educational institutions, and correctional facilities, the book reflects his message of resilience, accountability, and redemption.
From finance and media to philanthropy and reform, Robert Shumake continues to share strategies for growth, transformation, and purpose-driven impact with readers worldwide.
