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06/24/2005: "Austin again"

I'm sitting at the Austin airport, watching at least seven other people using the wireless net here at gate 11. None of these folks know that I installed Wayport's service here, and I'm sure none of them care.

Here's the funny part. I'm using T-Mobile, because Wayport sucks. Frankly, if I have to pay for access (and I don't relish the idea), I'd rather sit in a Starbucks than McDonalds. Vucina just doesn't get it.

"We look forward to continuing our leadership position in the industry and to achieving our aggressive goals in 2005 for connections, revenue, cash flow and profit."

What the fuck does that mean? "We would like to make some money." BFD, Dave. Everyone does.
Your investors are probably on your ass about it. What are you doing about it?

Wayport took its first money in 1998 with follow-on rounds in 1999 and 2000, and 2002. Its now mid-2005, and I'm sure that some of those funds are looking for a return on their investment. Fund rules, don't cha know, and with the collapse of the dot-com crazies, Wayport is one of the few investments left to generate any return.

All that money, all that promise, and what we get is WayP0rn in IHOP. Just a bunch of monkeys jacking-off into cyberspace in their 120,000 hotel rooms.

I dropped by the Wayport corporate offices earlier. Wayport used to have nice digs. Now they're located by Austin's parole office, adjacent to one of Austin's worst neighborhoods, in the middle of what is easily Austin's worst traffic snarl (I-35 and Ben White, for those of you familiar.) The auto body shop up the street offers "$500 cash back", which is a blatant insurance scam if I ever saw one.

"Bubble guy" is still on the building, and they have a loading dock that is massive (3 bays), considering where we started back in 1998. But still, when was the business model ever about shipping *stuff*?

Brett Stewart used to constantly harp, "Character is destiny", and in this case, it may be true. There are vicious rumors about a stock swindle inside the company, with some of the execs taking massive pots of shares home while the people who built the company are left holding what might as well be air.... or handfulls of semi-soft, still warm turds, freshly dispensed by management.

On the other side, most of the hotels I stay in offer free connectivity, so there can't be that much of a revenue model. Free is where this industry is headed, and free was something I tried to warn about, and accomodate over five years ago, but nobody would listen.

Stick a fork in it.

Sigh.