[ChuckMcM]

Great discussion. What I was trying to capture was the difference between businesses that wouldn't be possible without the tech they are using and businesses which could operate but would perhaps be less efficient or perhaps less profitable. I certainly agree it is an arbitrary distinction and one which has been debated literally for decades in the SF Bay Area at least.

But I don't think that being arbitrary makes it invalid, the goal is simply to put a stake in the ground so that the conversation can move forward. One of the challenges of having discussions about tech bubbles or tech economies is agreeing on what companies are considered (by the speaker) to be tech companies, and which are not. Then the listener can translate that into their own set of companies and look past the definitional challenge and then on to the meatier question of the role of technology in the economy and the businesses that are currently considered valuable by that economy (or not).