Pained. Very nice post. Your perspective is from a logical person's mindset and not a personal one. It is one thing to criticize based on merit but doing so out of personal angst is just silly and quite unproductive. Plus it really looks thin when the company continues to achieve success. I do find it funny when one is so desperate to say something negative they say completely foolish things like "anyone can sell to Walmart it they show they are minority owned" which also is false because OWOO does not have any certifications with the Houston Minority Business Council, which means they did all of this without using "special earmarks" for minorities.
How do I know???? I called HMBC and asked. :-)
Also, I find it funny that anyone would believe that OWOO cannot secure financing against a WALMART PO!!! Duh! That is a no brainer. Anyone will fund a WALMART PO!
OWOO has done a great job and they have endured a ton of crap on the way. I am just a simple supporter without alot of money but I do understand the challenges involved in building a business and these people have done it with a ton of folks like us watching and critiquing their every move.
I do admire the Founder for stepping up and being the pitch guy even though he had to have known that people would reach for the low hanging fruit and attack him for his past. I also credit him for knowing when to step back and take the sidelines so the others components could shine through -- not being on an ego trip is smart, smart business and the Founder obviously knew when he needed to move aside --- BRAVO! It seems pretty obvious that Walmart and Robert Tonner could care less about what he did 17 years ago. I know I don't care and never did.
All in all. OWOO deserves this and BRAVO to all of them for securing a MAJOR deal with WALMART!