I just went through my business card collection from the last 8 years...
 

the result is:

75% of the cards i threw away because the person disappeared

50% of the remaining 25% do not work anymore at the company i got the card from

:upsidedow

and mine stood out like a beacon of hope.

congratulations on getting the math right. (at first glance you had me worried :1orglaugh)

.

That's a better ratio than I would have thought!

it would have been cool if you'd have stacked them up on your desk and taken a picture of them, that would have been a pretty cool visual :)

I must have a thousand cards in a drawer and still the award for big pimp card has to go to Sleazy for the metal card coke cutting card.

you never gave me yours :(

I slipped it under your pillow on my way out that night in vegas

Same here in ICQ list. I'd even say 10% is what left working. Tops.

and i always wondered where that "Tranny Escorts" biz card came from

Wonder if anyone has done the same thing, with cards collected even in the last year or 2 ? I bet you will see very similar ratios:winkwink:

I gave up collecting cards a long time ago. Too many people have moved around from company to company, and their email address are no longer valid. If I need anyone, I can find them either on GFY or who's who.

I had the same experience with T-Shirts. I used to get all the free T-Shirts I could at conferences and just a few weeks ago cleaned out my closet - and visited the websites on the shirts.

Almost ALL from companies more than 5 years old were 404's or parking pages.

I had long suspected this, having done random tests over the years. Have'nt done any in a while, but thanks for reconfirming my suspicions:thumbsup

i have a few of those

and i just looked through the Networking Guides from the Phoenix Forums 2006 and 2007 - not very encouraging either

Collecting business cards at shows is always like that. How many of those still current will do business?

It doesn't just happen like this in our industry.

Hrm, I'm gonna go through mine now. I have a stack I've collected for nine years.

Similar here.
But I still keep them. It was funny to go through them after 5 years, should be even funnier after 10 years :D

But I just recently deleted about 80% of my ICQ list.

2007 is not that far behind us. I mean if they were in the networking guide they were at least attempting to be a success.

I talked with a company today that wanted PHP consulting. I asked if they are currently cash-flow positive, and when they plan on being so. They talked about their "5 year plan", and that they *could be profitable by the end of the year, but that isn't their goal.

I am not putting them down, but I admit I don't see the logic in "not trying to be profitable this year", and having a "5 year plan" in the internet biz. Auto mfg, airline, medicine yes. Internet, no.