Looking back at the Wave wreckage field in a wider perspective, it seems so stunning that at every low point and at every choice point in Wave's long stumble, there were a group of serious supporters who chose the wrong path for their followers.
In the beginning, Wave was full of enthusiasm and the CEO was bubbling over with made-up stories about a full pipeline and not only prosperity, but as the myth goes--unlimited wealth.
Wave was a beautiful, blinding dream just as the Internet was transitioning from defense/scientist circles to enterprises and consumers worldwide. It was going to be, and is, "the information superhighway."
The Wave myth held that the little company from Lee would be the toll-taker on that information highway, taking a mere fraction of a cent on each, but transactions would number in the billions and trillions daily, so the Wave story was passed around.
Because of the gathering of intellectual digeratti around Wave, like Atari's Nolan Bushnell, Futurist George Gilder, MIT/Wired Mag Nicolas Negroponte and others--there was a constant buzz of excitement carried on these same boards--there have been more than 15 of them dedicated to Wave.
When things didn't go well, the power-supporters consisting of large block holder-believers, friends of SKS & Peter (Loop Group) always came up with plausible reasons for missing out on traction quarter after quarter while the CEO was blowing such huge, pretty bubbles for them.
But when good cheer, have patience, big things coming soon--the usual fish bait Wave & its supporters dangled, there was a dark backside.
This same group peddled the fear if you got out and sold your shares, you would miss a steep rocket take-off so violent, so straight up, by the time you were able to get some shares, the price would be through the stratosphere.
So, in a sense, Wave supporters gave its shareholders the bad cop, worst cop routine to those unhappy or impatient with constantly deferred goals.
If you questioned the myth, like how come we are not making money already when we are years behind the calls for passing break-even? Bang, Maxwell's Silver Hammer came down in the form of banning, jailing, PM threats, obscenity, phone threats and more.
At every juncture of this long saga, when Wave's egregious behavior cried out for shareholder intervention--like over the guaranteed bonuses equal to half his salary no matter how poorly the company was doing [and it was doing horribly] and the leaching, growing nepotism--nothing was done.
Did the leaders call mgt out on any of these behaviors as they could have, putting a stop to it and letting mgt know there were limits, a warning shot, if you will? No. Not at all.
The leaders instead put forth questions like "Will any of that matter when Wave goes to $100?"
Again, at every juncture, the supporters steered their shareholder base to what now appears to be exactly the wrong decision every time. Remarkable.
Isn't there some point at which one loses all credibility? Especially if every wrong decision cost the followers enormous sums?
Strangely, the ones most wrong about Wave are still being listened too. The ones who had the harshest views of Wave and were banned and called liars--were closer to the truth. Situation static. Puzzling, eh?
Blue
