Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mike.com who wrote (15164)	1/14/2000 4:21:00 PM
From: DownSouth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Mike, I hate to say it, but I must. Your demeanor toward John in that last post is not appreciated. Thoughtful, well supported disagreement is encouraged. Flaming is simply not tolerated here. Perhaps that is your usual SI style (I don't know), but leave it on other threads; don't bring it here. I will not be responding to anything else you have to say about this post, so don't try to engage me in a contest. You will "win". Prosperous Investing

To: mike.com who wrote (15164)	1/15/2000 10:53:00 PM
From: John Stichnoth	Respond to of 54805

mike, The focus of this thread is investing according to the guidelines set forth in Geoffrey Moore's books. Issues such as "tornadoes", "Gorillas", "Chasms" and "bowling pins". These are all defined terms, and our comments here are with reference to the books. Moore repeatedly in his books makes the point that it is very hard to turn around an organization's focus from "develop at any cost" to "make a profit while growing". Any number of dot.com companies have been able to do the former. Few have been able to do the latter. One that comes to mind is Qualcomm. Another is Gemstar. IATV does not fit that description. I have certainly missed a runup in IATV since I looked at it at about 22. In Gorilla-gaming we expect to miss some home runs by getting in late, or not at all, when they don't fit Moore's (and our) criteria. Whether IATV is a long term winner is of course still to be seen. That is where issues such as "tornado" come in. The company spent a lot of effort on their 15 Days of Bond/HyperTV debut. I haven't seen yet whether that translated into meaningful revenues. When it can be shown that HyperTV is becoming a mass-market application, and that meaningful revenues will result, then we can look at IATV as a potential Gorilla. But [and I bow to Mike Buckley here :o)]--"Without a tornado, you can't have a Gorilla." My final comment gets back to management more specifically. At the start of the year the company had 45 employees. They've been running through cash at about a $20MM per year clip. That's some pretty hefty salaries, apparently. To say nothing of the increase in share count, at least partly attributable to options. The point is that management's interests are not aligned with shareholders. Mr. Samuels may be a very smart guy. I'm sure he is smarter than me! But, he's not doing anything that shows me he is working for me as a shareholder (if I was one). And in the meantime there are lots of good opportunities out there. If you want to make a presentation of ACTV/IATV in terms of its Gorilla-status, I'm sure it would be welcomed here. (But, expect to have to defend yourself! :o)) Regards, JS

To: mike.com who wrote (15164)	1/15/2000 11:52:00 PM
From: chaz	Respond to of 54805

Mike....I'm catching up with the thread and caught your first response to John, posted a mild rebuke, saw that DS had done so as well, then that you had reviewed your post and apologized. I've edited out the rebuke...I commend you instead, and hope we'll hear more from you. I'm currently running a little "think tank" exercise to help us get a quick handle on about 20 or so new companies. If you're at all interested, look back at my post #15151 and later for a list of companies. Perhaps you'd care to participate...you very obviously have some skills we could use in our search for the next gorillas. Chaz/Thucydidies