'Gold rush fever': Are you ready for the next boom?

The technology sector is on the verge of another 'gold rush', according to one leading investor, with innovation and the inclination to invest in high-tech businesses hitting new heights.

While it's unlikely to reach the fever-pitch excitement of the late 90s - and tempered by memories of the subsequent crash - it seems investors are once again willing to - cautiously - part with their cash.

Joe Schoendorf, a partner with investment group Accel Partners, who counts names such as Macromedia, RealNetworks and UUNet among his successes, said: "I tend to see another gold rush now in its very earliest stages."

But Schoendorf said that unlike the companies of the boom and bust dot-com era, start-ups won't see any major reward until they are established and successful.

"The difference in this gold rush is we're going to put the gold into escrow," he said.

The value of keeping the cash in 'safe hands' is perhaps one important lesson learned from the easy-come, easy-go days of blink-and-you-miss-it burn rates. Typically, start-ups are also being steered away from the excessive spending of the dot-com era by significantly smaller amounts and more tightly controlled funding.

Another lesson learned from those days is to resist the temptation to do too much too soon. Schoendorf said many of those responsible for the dot-com crash simply "took the bread out of the oven too early".

That need to keep to the recipe was a sentiment echoed by other attendees at the Innovation Summit in London, where start-ups, investors and potential industry partners all had the opportunity to rub shoulders - fittingly on the First Tuesday of the month, for those who remember that dot-com networking phenomenon.

In the past, investors and businesses have been too distracted by short-term gains and market fluctuations, according to Tom Black, CEO of Detica.

Black said: "If you are going to run a business, you have to ignore the share price. Ignore [sector-related] things and keep your eye on your own business."

Steve Vaughan, CEO of Synstar, agreed, adding that a "good strong management team" who can resist short-term thinking is vital because the beckoning call of high valuations may turn out to be little more than a Siren song tempting you to run your business into the rocks.

John O'Connell, CEO of Staffware, said businesses have to "keep their vision" and ignore the fluctuations in the market that can make good businesses go bad and bad business appear far more attractive a proposition than they really are.

Detica's Black summed up that latter point very neatly.

"In a hurricane, even a turkey can fly," he said, and anybody who remembers the high-valuations and soaring share prices of now-defunct businesses will almost certainly have a few turkeys in mind.