Spindl3top.org - What Happened.

Thu Dec 27 16:15:57 EST 2001

Lucas, Thanks for responding to Derek's original question. 
Also, I did notice that the Spindl3top domain expired in November.  
"Lucas Wagner" wrote:
> Hi guys,
> 
> There were really no problems and there is no spectacular flame-out story.  
> It also wasn't that we couldn't sell Blackbirds, because I still get people 
> e-mailing me to this day wanting one.
> 
> Similarly, there are no stories of excess.  Spindletop was based on money 
> that I got through prudent investing over the years.  I put it away for a 
> rainy day, grew it, took it out, and made good use of it.  What we were able 
> to do for little, dot-coms did for $1.5M.  We did *everything* ourselves.
> 
> Josh and I decided to call it quits late August.  And, yes, Spindletop LLC 
> was for-profit and was *profitable*.
> 
> The nonprofit Spindl3top still exists... I'm waiting until my work schedule 
> dies down a bit and then I want to have one of our famous get-togethers.
> 
> Why did we walk away from a profitable thing?
> ---------------------------------------------
> There were several factors that influenced our decision:
> 
> 1.  Our third ISP (and last) went out of business and then (to make matters 
> worse) the office flooded severely on 9/11, destroying crucial equipment, 
> including a crucial router and several expensive components.  I'm not sure 
> what happened because I was taking my father to Logan on 9/11 when we 
> learned what happened and had to get out of downtown.  Instead of suing for 
> damages as many would have done, I decided to eat the loss and use it as an 
> omen to stop.
> 
> 2.  We were getting about $10 - $20 net per Blackbird.  The amount of time 
> and effort we spent on making the "perfect box" wasn't worth $20 because 
> building a Blackbird, testing, installing, etc. took all day.  Someone can 
> say, "oh, sure, I can build one in a couple hours".. yeah, you *could*, but 
> not like we did... and you wouldn't want to do it over-and-over again.  We 
> didn't have the money to really automate more of it, so that was a pain.  In 
> the old days, you could just throw them together and turn it on... that's 
> not the case anymore, particularly with GNU/Linux boxen where there are 
> sometimes hardware/software issues that take a while to resolve.
> 
> 3.  I bought a house and felt the need to move to stable ground and a 
> long-term career.  Once you take on a long-term debt like a mortgage, it 
> makes you much more concerned about stability in the future.  I'm sure many 
> of you have felt the same thing if you own a house or have a child... or 
> both.
> 
> 4.  FedEx and UPS kept repeatedly breaking our stuff at the end.  We'd never 
> had a problem until the final three months of building Blackbirds when, even 
> putting several inches of foam coupled with peanuts, something would 
> inevitably break from them dropping it or kicking it... or maybe just 
> drop-kicking it. :-)
> 
> 5.  Support.  If you're going to sell GNU/Linux boxes, you can either try to 
> handle support issues or have a support staff.  We didn't have the money for 
> the latter and there were issues (like the AMD CUV4x Northbridge revision 
> problem) with the kernel that were out of our power.  Some people just *had* 
> to have Debian and wouldn't use anything else -- ok, we'll install it as a 
> favor....  only to find out they knew *nothing* about Debian and the caveats 
> therein.  No offense to legit Debian users, of course.
> 
> 6.  Maintenance.  Between the two of us, we did everything from accounting 
> to building to inventory to website updating.  It was too much because I 
> would be spending entire nights just getting caught up.
> 
> 7.  Order sizes.  We would get calls from struggling dot-coms who tried to 
> muscle us around and play hardball.  "We want you to build 900 for us in a 
> week and we'll pay you well"  We would never be able to do that, so we had 
> to turn it down.  They also wanted special "perks" which we were not willing 
> to do because they would invalidate some of the things we stood for.  In an 
> all-or-nothing game, if you're not Dell, you don't get the order.
> 
> 8.  Distributor X = Retailer X.  Basically, the distribution system has 
> flattened out in computing goods.  We could find *significantly* cheaper 
> Pentiums through other businesses than through Intel's established channels. 
>   This isn't a few bucks we're talking about -- it was, like, a $100 
> difference.  It's the same for other companies' goods.  I still haven't 
> talked with anyone who has been able to come up with a solution except 
> excessive S&H or other hidden fees which I am totally against.
> 
> I really liked the LCWproc program I customized from LCDproc to display 
> HAL-9000-esque screens of CPU histogram, load, ps, etc.  If there was one 
> thing I thought (and still think) was really cool, it was that.
> 
> You only get to do this stuff once, though, so I'm glad I did it while I 
> still could -- I was right out of college.  I saved up the money for a rainy 
> day and used it for a good purpose.  I'm glad that people still want 
> Blackbirds because it means that I ignited some sort of inspiration... a 
> sort of nostalgic look back to when computing was a little more 
> intimidating, a little more geeky.
> 
> I have thought about licensing the brand for a minimal amount if a company 
> or an individual wants to build them.  The reason I might like to license it 
> instead of give it away is because a.) the brand means something to free 
> software and I want it to continue to mean something to free software and 
> b.) I want to make sure people aren't buying crap.
> 
> What are we doing now?
> ----------------------
> 
> On October 17, I began studying for the licensing exams to become a 
> financial planner and advisor for American Express.  It gives me an 
> opportunity to get out of the spotlight for a while and start helping people 
> do what I do (and have done)... investing for the long-term and getting 
> their finances in order.  I enjoy working with fellow geeks because I can 
> get into detail about stuff like the theories behind growing wealth, 
> reducing taxes, and basically how they can keep more of their money... 
> because wealth isn't about what you make, it's about what you keep.
> 
> I have had an advisor since I was 18 and it has obviously been beneficial to 
> me, so it is an honor for me to be able to do for it for others.
> 
> Josh took a sales management position at a local moving company here in 
> Boston.  We went out to dinner a few weeks ago and he is doing well.  We 
> talked about what we would and wouldn't have done differently; basically, we 
> would have done everything the same except that we would have been a little 
> less flexible in terms of what people wanted (eg. the Debian story above) 
> because it became a nightmare to support.
> 
> As I said, the nonprofit still exists and hasn't died.  I took the website 
> down because I didn't have time to maintain it and I didn't want to have to 
> monitor it.  I was tired of having my systems hammered on by random .kr 
> hax0rs and having to make sure things were patched.
> 
> I've made a timeline detailing things month-by-month.  In the near future, 
> I'll post it because it is very interesting to read as a chronology of the 
> 1999 - 2001 tech industry... particularly in free software.
> 
> Have a great new year & I look forward to seeing everyone again at meetings 
> in the future.
> 
> Lucas
> 
> P.S.  If anyone has any questions about anything (including financial 
> planning/advising), you can always give me a call.  I'd be happy to talk 
> with you and see if I can help.  781-684-3743 (Waltham)
> 
> 
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Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
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