Replies to post #238258 on Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[New Wave]

Blue, Solms hardly rushed VSC out the door. The development time alone for version 2.0 tells us that. He talked about this capability with great enthusiasm at the TCC last September and indicated it was a key reason he chose to join Wave 3 months earlier (not to be taken lightly considering how hard it was to get him on board, Wave baggage and all). He told me then it would take time to effectively productize and market this capability, AND he said investors would begin to see results the 2nd half of 2014. Sound familiar?

Some of us write about the urgency of having a high profile 'new client' PR for product validation, however I don't think any company wants their name put on the marquee of a new IT security product. They may be willing to participate with a case study, named or unnamed, but I suspect they'd prefer to wait until after the initial launch fanfare.

Over the past two weeks Wave has introduced the product, done a number of published interviews and initiated some slick advertising. A case study, the one remaining piece, is an important component of any new product launch, and I honestly don't think it will be too much longer before we see one.

I just don't see Solms going much further into the launch w/o a customer case study. Thus far his overall transformation of Wave has moved along step-by-step (recapitalization, renewal of tech partnerships, repositioning and reworking key product lines) almost like clockwork in the face of some serious leftover obstacles. For someone with his military and managerial background he's been too well organized to leave out such an important component as VSC 2.0 gets further underway.

Based on my observation of his short tenure at Wave, I'm inclined to believe he has more of a plan than we thoroughly jaded stockholders can conceive. It may not always play out the way we - or even Solms - would like, but I'm much more confident of the path we're on under this regime.

[dig space]

alea/blue,

the point re: opportunity cost vs what to sell, what to spend time on etc seems pretty solid to me, the whole point of a turnaround is to focus ... pick the most promising near term things, clean them up, focus, and get them moving, at the expense of not focusing on other things. I would add to this the 'impression cost' of contuning to push out things that need service/work, and that the impression cost may be durable, so the effort to sell a turnaround story to not just investors, but to customers, involves NOT selling things that are night clean, pleasant, easy, and functional.

as for as obfuscation etc., certainly at the top, I am inclined to speculate that it was 'shiny object syndrome', that SKS got bored with things when it started to become work to actually clean an invention up and market it, it started to seem real (which cut into the dream of it being worth a trillion dollars with a margin of 99%) so he dreamed up new projects. these aren't bad projects per se, but they distracted from closing the deal on the last project. I think this filtered through the company and undercut moral for those tasked with getting products out the door. there was no leadership on 'old' things like VSC, ERAS, SED management etc, I doubt SKS could be bothered to participate in problem solving in those areas, but all the power was his, and the focus was elsewhere.

at the 'launch' I thought GK was very solid. clear, concise, fluid, at complete ease. The first time I have seen anybody from Wave talk where I was pleased. Solms does fine, I'm happy with Solms, he's the front man for the plan and the process and the direction .... and when it gets technical he hands the ball off (to e.g GK or this other guy for the webinar demo thingy on Aug5). SKS never handed the ball off, and while his understanding is top notch (well above Solms) his presentation was atrocious, insulting, incoherent, repulsive, demeaning, illiterate, rambling, and arrogant. Oh, and SKS didn't have very good presentation skills. So he abandoned the post on leadership of getting products cleaned up and sold in favor of whatever the new shiny object was (one where the dream had not yet been inconvenienced by reality), and would mix in an occasional effort to sell things by doing one of his atrocious, insulting, incoherent, repulsive, demeaning, illiterate, rambling, and arrogant presentations.

GK really came across as somebody who has his eye on the ball. Wave's leadership is now Solms, GK, and the CFO. Previously it was SKS, SKS and SKS.