I wonder if Joe Trippi (who was the campaign manager of Dean) is gonna put his money he got from that campaign (drudgereport says Dean paid the Trippi company 7 mil-- but no link) into WAVX:
aether.com
Joe Trippi - Mastermind?
I've been busy trying to close my Howard Dean/Emergent Media story for Wired, which accounts for a few days of silence here, but I did notice this very interesting Joe Trippi profile at The New Republic.
Trippi is such an interesting character that I was tempted to make him the center of my story. I chose not to because I wanted to talk about the structure of the campaign rather than background of the man managing it. But now I'm especially glad I didn't go this route, because Noam Scheiber's piece is very good.
Scheiber talks about Trippi's experience as a stock speculator and participant in the infamous Raging Bull message boards. Trippi was a vocal investor in Wave Systems and then an employee of the company. Scheiber is fairly charitable about this, only indirectly alluding to the collapse of Wave's share price. (It ran from the teens to the high forties in 1999 and 2000 and bottomed out at about .75 after the crash - it now floats at around $2.50.) When I first found this out, while doing research for my own story on Dean, I wasn't sure what to make of it. For one thing, I haven't yet figured out if, at the time that Trippi was praising the stock on the message boards, he was also taking a check from the company, or if he stopped hyping the stock when he was hired. And, though I figured quite a bit could be made of this by somebody with an ax to grind, it is the kind of thing that seems most significant to people who are unfamiliar with the rather peculiar environment of the R.B. message boards during the height of the boom. I spent a lot of time on Raging Bull when researching Dumb Money. From Sheiber's piece, it sounds like everybody in the Wave Systems forum knew exactly what was going on with Trippi - and were completely thrilled that one of the online traders who was long on Wave was in a position to communicate directly with the company executives. I suspect that, given the denoument, this may be a slight exageration. On the other hand, Wave survived the crash - albeit after its shareholders took a brutal haircut - and that's more than can be said for most of such bubble companies.
Anyway, for a look at Trippi way back when, here is an interview with random1 from January 27, 2000. This quote is a perfect expression of the machismo of the R.B. boards just before the bubble burst:
"Most of my online friends just cannot figure out exactly what I do for a living, and to tell you the truth there are days where even I don't know. I can be in a Senate race in Oregon one day, on MSNBC or Fox as a commentator the next, and then suddenly find myself on a plane to Greece or Africa, the Middle East, or even Belgrade in the middle of hostilities. Nothing concentrates the mind like a secret police guy with an Uzi pointed in your direction. I get my biggest laughs from online slammers who think they can somehow freak me out of my stock."
Online slammers refers to short-sellers who would jump into a company discussion and spread false rumors (or true ones), trying to create some downward movement so that that could "cover" at a lower price.
Posted by garywolf at November 6, 2003 06:29 PM | TrackBack
raging bull interview:
ragingbull.lycos.com
RB name: random1
"I do a ton of DD -- and I only invest in companies that I honestly feel will return 1000% on my investment over a two or three-year period."
Location: Washington D.C. area
Occupation: Political consultant
Biography: “I was born in Jamestown, N.Y., but really grew up in Los Angeles. I attended San Jose State University, but never finished my degree. Politics got in my blood early, and I left school, ran a bunch of campaigns, and ended up working for Vice President Mondale, as deputy chief of staff to the leutenant governor of California and everything in between. I have always been a risk taker, so I finally started my own company in 1990. By 1993 my firm worked on the upset victory for the new prime minister of Greece, and the Wall Street Journal did a front page story calling us the young barbarians of our industry."
When did I start investing: “I guess back in 1982 or so. I had to have been one of the early online traders. I had a Prodigy account and I do not even remember what DLJ was calling its online service back in the 80s, but I signed up immediately. I have never had a broker.”
Favorite Web Sites: “Mostly I hang out at Raging Bull on the WAVX thread. I like Clearstation.com for charting. WaveXpress.com is a cool site to see where that part of WAVX is going.”
Portfolio: Largest holdings are Wave Systems (WAVX), e.Digital (EDIG) and THQ Inc. (THQI)
Investment Strategy: “I look for companies that no one else knows about with superior tech or management – hopefully both. I tend to get in them early, often before they are listed, but I do a ton of DD and I only invest in companies that I honestly feel will return 1000% on my investment over a two or three-year period. I invested in THQI in March of 1997 at around $3 (split adjusted) and sold most of it in November of 1999 for $45. I bought EDIG at 50 cents early in 1999, and it hit $10 (first week of January and hit around $18 this week.)”
Favorite stocks: “Not even a close call for me. It is WAVX. I believe it will be the best pick I have made or will ever make. The market just does not understand how huge this company is going to be, and how it is going to participate in perhaps the biggest paradigm shift we have ever seen. Security, metering, databroadcasting – it will be a major player across all of these disciplines. It is already well on its way through Cyber-Comm to becoming the standard in Europe, but American-centric investors haven't figured that out yet. TCPA will set standards for the OEMs in June. Most will have figured the whole thing out by then, but I do not mind being in WAVX early. It has great tech, solid patents and a great management team. Add George Gilder on the board of directors along with AOL and CBS execs on the WaveXpress board of directors and it’s just a matter of time. I do not expect to be selling WAVX for a long time, and I fully expect it to be the best performing stock I have ever owned.”
Philosophy of life: "’That which does not kill you makes you stronger.’ Most of my online friends just cannot figure out exactly what I do for a living, and to tell you the truth there are days where even I don't know. I can be in a Senate race in Oregon one day, on MSNBC or Fox as a commentator the next, and then suddenly find myself on a plane to Greece or Africa, the Middle East, or even Belgrade in the middle of hostilities. Nothing concentrates the mind like a secret police guy with an Uzi pointed in your direction. I get my biggest laughs from online slammers who think they can somehow freak me out of my stock.”
Me and My Bull: “The coolest thing about Raging Bull and my line of work is that I travel constantly, often as many as 200 days of the year. So I make it a point to let WAVX RB folks know when I am coming to their city and we get together. I must have met personally at least 50 or more Raging Bull posters in cities from Los Angeles and Seattle to Minnesota, New York and Boston. And I’ve hosted more than a few of them when they hit the D.C. area. By far the best thing that has happened is the friendship I have developed with BigTim. We have met for beers and discussed WAVX many times. I have been through the Motley Fool and Silicon Investor thing over the years, and the people on the Raging Bull WAVX board are a great group of people, and the best collection of posters of any board I have ever been on. The one thing I would love to see on Raging Bull is the 40 most ignored posters like they do with the 40 most member marked posters.”
Later this year, a book titled “The Road Warrior” by Peter Goldman, former senior editor at Newsweek magazine, will be coming out. It will detail eight years on the road with Joe Trippi, known on Raging Bull as random1.
Trippi SI (I think)--
Member 3393628 |
