Comments on: My FON story, Part 3 http://blog.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:33:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Rob Snyder http://blog.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-9060 Rob Snyder Fri, 30 Jun 2006 18:17:55 +0000 http://www.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-9060 I found that fon was so eager to launch that they did not have the logistics in place when they did launch. Even now the logistics are a mess. I even got a doa router and been waiting 4 days for an answer from fon. Ejovi, wont say it but the bottom line was after the passon wound down, he saw the major flaws in this and saw how fon is going to go down like the titantic. I found that fon was so eager to launch that they did not have the logistics in place when they did launch. Even now the logistics are a mess. I even got a doa router and been waiting 4 days for an answer from fon.

Ejovi, wont say it but the bottom line was after the passon wound down, he saw the major flaws in this and saw how fon is going to go down like the titantic.

]]> By: Raul Carr http://blog.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8898 Raul Carr Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:17:57 +0000 http://www.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8898 Ejovi, My experience working for a startup has confirmed the issues you bring out. Much of the time is about passion, sacrifice, and the desire to succeed and silence the critics. Having worked at the cutting edge of Voice-over-IP (VoIP)during the early stages (1998), our startup company encountered many critics and skeptics at trade shows that told us that VoIP wouldn't work because latency, jitter, and packet loss would render voice quality too poor. Well if we had listened to the critics, the company would have never gone IPO, built a global VoIP network expanding over 100 contries, and carried over 7 Billion minutes of international VoIP traffic annually. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the story. Ejovi,
My experience working for a startup has confirmed the issues you bring out. Much of the time is about passion, sacrifice, and the desire to succeed and silence the critics. Having worked at the cutting edge of Voice-over-IP (VoIP)during the early stages (1998), our startup company encountered many critics and skeptics at trade shows that told us that VoIP wouldn’t work because latency, jitter, and packet loss would render voice quality too poor. Well if we had listened to the critics, the company would have never gone IPO, built a global VoIP network expanding over 100 contries, and carried over 7 Billion minutes of international VoIP traffic annually. Keep up the good work and I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.

]]> By: Hans Hilberink http://blog.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8784 Hans Hilberink Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:35:10 +0000 http://www.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8784 I thought you were right to follow your passion and I am thinking you will be right to follow your course now. There was nothing new in Fon apart from the passion and I also am thinking it is diminished. Along with raw initial talent disappearing I fear that is never achieving the momentum it needs of those with real knowledge of services. You cannot do a million of anything without vision and action behind it. I myself did make a nuisance asking some of the European people “what if?”, “how will you?”, “when will” questions. The lack of answers was not the disappointment; the lack of understanding what is behind the questions is the real troubling part. Go forward with best wishes I thought you were right to follow your passion and I am thinking you will be right to follow your course now. There was nothing new in Fon apart from the passion and I also am thinking it is diminished.

Along with raw initial talent disappearing I fear that is never achieving the momentum it needs of those with real knowledge of services. You cannot do a million of anything without vision and action behind it.

I myself did make a nuisance asking some of the European people “what if?”, “how will you?”, “when will” questions. The lack of answers was not the disappointment; the lack of understanding what is behind the questions is the real troubling part.

Go forward with best wishes

]]> By: Dallas Goldswain http://blog.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8783 Dallas Goldswain Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:03:28 +0000 http://www.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8783 I am interested to hear your side and the truth of it, having been reading your posts about it i am keen to hear what brought on the change of "passion" I am interested to hear your side and the truth of it, having been reading your posts about it i am keen to hear what brought on the change of “passion”

]]> By: Paolo Gagliardi http://blog.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8748 Paolo Gagliardi Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:41:23 +0000 http://www.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8748 Mike, at the end of the day, their plan is selling those routers, so 5M will come back. And for those who won't connect their routers, FON will get even more. Martin is so wise and skilled that I can't believe, even for one second, that he's taking fool steps :-) Ejovi, you're right. Startups are made with passion, and you need to be ready to sacrifice something. But it's also true that if you're a 10/15 years professional, with a strong experience, and you have reached a certain life style, you need to balance these factors (passion AND economical reward). And a company willing to attract the best talents needs to understand this. I am not necessarily saying they must be ready to pay a fortune in salaries, but "quality" is not cheap. Just my 2 cents. Mike,
at the end of the day, their plan is selling those routers, so 5M will come back. And for those who won’t connect their routers, FON will get even more. Martin is so wise and skilled that I can’t believe, even for one second, that he’s taking fool steps :-)

Ejovi,
you’re right. Startups are made with passion, and you need to be ready to sacrifice something. But it’s also true that if you’re a 10/15 years professional, with a strong experience, and you have reached a certain life style, you need to balance these factors (passion AND economical reward). And a company willing to attract the best talents needs to understand this. I am not necessarily saying they must be ready to pay a fortune in salaries, but “quality” is not cheap. Just my 2 cents.

]]> By: Mike http://blog.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8684 Mike Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:49:11 +0000 http://www.ejovi.net/2006/06/26/my-fon-story-part-3/#comment-8684 Ejovi, Don't drop a bomb, but do tell us what really happened. I know that shouting about a former employer is not a good thing, but I also believe that your motives can be honest and clear. I sincerely believe you had a lot of pressure, but little backing from Martin. It was clear from the boards' posts that there was a terrible lack of resources in costumer service and logistics, with many people miffed at not getting their routers, receiving broken ones, or having configuration and operating issues. As for the current model Fon is following, I am not sure - I wrote an article in my blog, in which some quick maths showed that 1 million routers, at $5 each, will prove hard on the ROI in the midterm. Can they survive with the $21.7 million they got? Sure, for some time. But investors don't invest for fun or pleasure... Best of luck, Mike Ejovi,

Don’t drop a bomb, but do tell us what really happened. I know that shouting about a former employer is not a good thing, but I also believe that your motives can be honest and clear.

I sincerely believe you had a lot of pressure, but little backing from Martin. It was clear from the boards’ posts that there was a terrible lack of resources in costumer service and logistics, with many people miffed at not getting their routers, receiving broken ones, or having configuration and operating issues.

As for the current model Fon is following, I am not sure - I wrote an article in my blog, in which some quick maths showed that 1 million routers, at $5 each, will prove hard on the ROI in the midterm. Can they survive with the $21.7 million they got? Sure, for some time. But investors don’t invest for fun or pleasure…

Best of luck,

Mike

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