Hi awk,
"pissed off". My objections are based in a long track record rather than a quarter.
This is a man who has seemed unable to control his optimism to the extent he has come to seem something of a fantasist with his pipelines and his predictions. Perhaps the dividing line between being a fantasist and a visionary is difficult to gauge.
It certainly would be difficult to tell the difference between a person making sincere predictions and someone who uses false ones to manipulate investors - something we see weby lauding in his usual way, uncorrected. The judge in a recent case excoriated the use of the unsafe harbour for the distribution of puff.
But finally, there is the need to face up to one's own failures and to take responsibility for them: this is a CEO who consistently leads investors to believe in certain things, but when reality strikes, it always turns out to be factors outside his control which are responsible. This quarter, it is Thailand's turn.
For myself, the fault is in the author of the pipeline fantasy more than the pipeline itself. In Q3,11 we were told that something like $25m of customers had been added to 2012 growth in the quarter. If that was the rate of enthusiasm for Wave's product set, I don't think a $7m quarter is conceivable. It appears the dodgy pipeline is used to misdirect folks from the unsafe harbour. Same with the $50+ and the $60+m guidance - the lack of an anchor seems to reveal the lack of seriousness in the number. Fast and loose?
At some point in time, you think maybe he's the problem. I'm not looking for a change of vision at Wave. But I do think Wave has lost its credibility with all but the most loyal of its investors and this loss of credibility is encapsulated in the form of its CEO and his unsafe harbour. This might have been addressed by, for instance, including the chairman on the CC. I noticed no attempt to address that issue, although I understood snackman was expecting changes in governance - and this was an easy one. They are said to be aware of what is going on on the discussion board. Perhaps they only read those who praise them.
Anyway, the dissonance between the pipeline and the results, and the failure to listen and the excuse-making rather than taking responsibility, and the failure to learn, and the serious error of judgement in the hiring and the inability to forecast, or the lack of proper caution in the face of being unable to forecast if you will - all these things add up to an executive failure to me.
Keep him for his vision. But retire the mouth which cannot seem to tell a straight tale and the feet which seem never quite to touch the ground. I'm not saying he's a hopeless person. I just don't feel I can rely upon his judgement after this last year. I wish it were otherwise.
Same time, I think my opinion will count for nothing as Wave will likely succeed or fail before anything could conceivably occur. So if I wish to retain a stake in the TC opportunity, I am stuck with him and the gamble of whether he delivers something within the next few weeks.
At any rate, I am not trying to influence anyone, which is why I am sharing my view within the borders of my swamp. No one who inhabits this space is going to have his opinion changed by me. I can't even get anyone here to take a different view of the constitution after nearly a decade of trying!
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