Embracing Open Sources

SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2007
By MASTER

The Wapit story

It is funny how much time we waste in short breaks and how many more things we could do by using them. Last week I downloaded a book into my Nokia 770 and read it during some short slices of time during my daily life (bus transfers, lonely meals, toilet times, …) and it might end up being one of the best lessons I can ever learn at this stage of my professional life.

The book (The Wapit Story) is written by Mato Valtonen, ex-Leningrad Cowboy and founder of Wapit, a startup focused on WAP services that rode the Wireless and dotcom craze in the end of 90’s beginning of 2000’s. It describes with a funny style, how everything started, from the first idea in the garage, the first big contracts, the expansion to a real office, the non-stop hiring process, the investors, the “everything goes” spirit, the crazy ideas and crazy spendings, the media covers, the huge valuations, the purchase offers, the endless dreams, … and the the burst of the bubble, the cannibal costs, the devaluations, the anguish for the never-signed second round of investment, the last-minute blown-up deals, the compromise of the whole staff with the company, the last bullets shot and down to bankruptcy (yes, I am a spoiler! But blame the author as he states it in the beginning). The book really teaches good lessons on how to balance risks, keep your head cool no matter how euphoric you might feel and how painful investors can become during the times of crisis. Really useful for new generations of entrepreneurs who where too young to see the dotcom burst from inside.

Here is a good sample of the book, where Mato describes roughly how the world was seeing Finland back then:

Americans in particular were totally caught with their pants down in the wireless technology race. Even text messages were totally unknown to them. Our Northern head start was roughly a light year. Americans marveled at our progress. They openly and completely admitted defeat in their articles. Accounts of wife-carrying, boot-throwing, and other swamp-running competitions increased interest in Finland. An utterly mad people that danced the tango and loved the sauna, and only grunted before the mobile phone was invented. But they were unquestionably the world