SPEAKEASY
A special place, in a special time
The tale of two brothers
who conceived and built
the first Internet Cafe
in the whole wide world:
Remember our trip to San Francisco to do research? Remember going to the beach and the fun we had? Remember when I tried to pretend I was Gretchen’s doctor on the phone from the convertible so we could get her contact prescription sent down after you accidentally OCD’d them down the drain? Remember unloading Dad’s 2x4’s, busting concrete and then sanding it too? Remember the pride Mom showed when she came to help us paint? How we hired people who crawled in under the garage door via the alley? The countless 16 hour days and mopping up to Snatch it Back and Hold It? Listen to that song now, and see it for the metaphor it was then: Junior Wells - HooDoo Man Blues.
We built it …and there was much rejoicing at our success.
Fate burned it …of our future there was much distress.
We transformed it …and few were left unimpressed.
Fortune’s hand sold it …then I was alone, an unwelcome guest
Arguably the first independent, nationwide broadband service provider, we quickly won fame with customers and the industry, innovating high-speed internet once again, then again and again. We did the many things literally no other broadband ISP did: “The Ring”, “Rain Mail”, the “Speakeasy Cafe” as our retail storefront —we put retail into a single technology brand strategy long before there were Apple Stores. We were the heroes of Manhattan when on 9/11 we were the only ISP able to maintain service, providing a priceless lifeline so people could communicate with the rest of the world. We squeezed our vendors, we created a service people wanted to pay more to get, and for all of these reasons we were just one of two independent broadband ISPs left standing in 2003, dozens and dozens going down in flames around us (Flashcom, Bazillion); We even picked up the pieces when the big guys couldn’t make it (Earthlink, DirecTV DSL, Rhythyms).
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I always assumed you saw that coming, too, but the way you reject that experience, how quick to call it yet another "bad thing" to hate your brother for... I didn't realize until much later: You must be bitter about the fact that so much happened "around you" and yet so little 'because of you'. Its not because you couldn't have, its because you have always so timid about making even the most obvious, trivial decisions.