it appears the money was squandered on grandiose (and ultimately unrealistic) ambitions. but funding was not available so cheaply at any other time. unfortunately, it is unrealistic to expect the ceo to hold the money in the bank for five years while he waits for the right opportunity!
the error in that period was to raise the son into the CEO role and to combine that with Gilder's supply-side genius theory. it appeared to go to sks' head and he failed to read or even listen to demand - or indeed to work out the supply chain and market access issues which Wave faced. it was always "the product is great so the market will appear" sort of stuff. if he had listened, surely the product would have been targeted at receptive markets and designed to scale more efficiently.
unlike nw, i think the obstruction and demand issues remain the core of wave's problem, even if the folks who think solms has cured the product issues are correct (some not implausibly argue otherwise and i am not qualified to judge the issue, except post hoc).
i don't agree with the folks who, as usual, argue the sales team is at fault. if there is widespread failure to grow revenue (witness the income statement), it is unlikely that everyone is incompetent. the problems lie elsewhere.
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