On reflection
Whilst I think Wave still has a chance to succeed as a result of its technological development, I don't think I can support the company's way of operating its business - even on the conditional basis I have adopted over the years. The combination of the expansion of the sales team and the want of demand, the lack of judgement and precaution in that decision, the dilution which follows from that, the increased salaries of the Sprague family and the directors which exacerbates the issue, the re-emergence of speculative software projects with no discernible business model which the company cannot afford sans dilution, the replacement of expired options with more at lower prices, the lack of investment by board members in their own decisions, the casual treatment of forecasting such that $50+ and $60m+ are interchangeable and the misleading commentary from the unsafe harbour and via the crack pipe - conspire to make me lose my remaining reserves of enthusiasm for the company.
The fact that the investors who support the company will live with (and indeed some of whom will support) the use of misleading statements by the company's representatives, and presumably by derivation, by themselves, makes me feel there's a divide between us that I have no interest in bridging. In fact, it makes me sick to my stomach that anyone would actually counsel putting the company's survival ahead of personal integrity. Investors have the right to make or prolong their investments on the basis of reliable information. The disregard of those rights by the company would be absolutely illegal and immoral. What kind of grotesque society does someone who promotes that kind of communication wish to inhabit? There is no moral distinction between it and justifying theft. A person has a reasonable and lawful interest in the preservation of their own capital and this should not be abused by a company to further its own ends.
Take, for example, a person who invested funds on the understanding the company's revenues were growing (per the Q4 call), and now finds the statement false and their position halved in value. How is that permissible on any worthwhile yardstick? It should not be.
Rather than counselling the company to employ 24601 (amongst other measures) in order to help restore confidence in the company's board, I think he should probably avoid an arrangement which might be toxic to him.
I intend to take a leave of absence from the Wave conversation, but will continue to use this space for other sorts of discussion.
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