I just ran through the Lala.com site, as well as reading about the remote Sonos/iPhone capabilities. I have to reminisce about a company a friend and I started some time ago.
It was called Bounce Networks. It was so far out there that all we got were looks of confusion from nearly EVERYONE we talked to. Particularly the folks on Sand Hill Rd.
Think about a company with personal mp3 player devices like ipods – but they sync over wifi. And a central server like a tivo, but it connects to a service like Lala for cloud-based storage of your music. It’s got the ability to play the same thing or different things in every room of your house just like Sonos… and, here’s the kicker… it automatically syncs with your car when you’re at home so you can take your entire library with you on the road. For icing, you can use an iPhone-like general purpose device to control it all. (in this case it was an iPaq with a wifi card)
It still sounds like a thing of the future, but we actually built it in 2001. Seven years ago. The whole system actually worked – at least in prototype form. I must have had the world’s first digitally enabled Audi TT.
Part of me is nostalgic for the great team and the excitement of the vision. Another part of me is kicking myself for not following through on the DRM, Wifi and subscription-based business patent applications. We’d own Apple by now.
Most of all, though, as I see the announcements today that are getting significant excitement and buzz, I am feeling a little smug. Along the lines of “Yep, we thought of that…”
There’s also a lesson here. We started the company in the fallout of the first nuclear (tech) market meltdown. My business partner Mike Rubin and I were confident entrepreneurs, priding ourselves in “doing the hard thing.” e.g. creating a truly visionary company in a down market. We met with Geoffrey Moore and the team at Mohr Davidow and eagerly soaked up the feedback. (But no money to soak up…)
So, what’s the lesson? As I have heard Ev of Twitter say – “be small.”
We had a monster plan with bells, whistles and a cherry on top. Impossible to fund and even more impossible to get to market without a thousand moving parts. I can still feel the sting of our pitch to Selby Ventures when we got 30 seconds into the pitch and a partner shouted out “Not another plan to change the world! I am out of here!” and he got up and walked out.
If I had it to do over, I would have picked a single slice of the vision that was believable, credible and didn’t scare the pants off of the money-folks.
I would also have worked to flesh out a Winterization plan that would allow us to keep the vision alive through adverse funding times. Maybe with that the team would have been able to give Apple and iTunes a worthy competitor. We certainly had the plans and the talent.
Mike Rubin, Rick Weisman, Craig Hagopian, Reed Meseck, Steve Suttles, Rob Teegarden, David Ting and the rest of the crew… we were swinging for the fences. Going for broke…. and ultimately going broke. Even so, it was awesome. Huge.
When the doors flew off, the team dissipated into corporate jobs with Intel, HP, Yahoo, Broadcom and the likes. I went on to run Search at AOL. Not bad gigs at all. But I know we all still want to see it happen.
So, with a quick tip of my hat to the old Bounce Networks crew, here are all of the documents – all that’s left of Bounce and its grand vision.
Would somebody PLEASE build this thing and bring us in to advise and invest? 
Illustration and design by Kurt Aspland
16 responses so far ↓
1 The music service of the future » iPhone Tricks // Oct 29, 2008 at 1:51 am
[...] luckyrobot.com added an interesting post on The music service of the futureHere’s a small teaserI just ran through the Lala. com site, as well as reading about the remote Sonos/iPhone capabilities…. [...]
2 David Ting // Oct 28, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I am now working as the Director of Engineering at Yahoo! Music, and I have to say that Bounce was way ahead of the game from the vision standpoint. Being in the digital media industry for over 5 years, the technology that exists today is still immature in many ways. My stint at Movielink to bring movies to the PC and building a white-label digital media platform at Entriq, all those came short. Apple came out of nowhere and became a monster in the field. It brings me to reminisce the what-if scenario of getting that kick-ass AltaVista crew together and built something that works back in 2001.
The technology is still not there today. It is not robust enough and easy enough for the mass market. The end solution has to be like television, where I turn it on and it works. I think ultimately, the solution will be a marriage between the cellphone and the internet, which easily plugs into a car stereo and home entertainment center. What you watch and like (Tivo, you got it right) will drive the stations and TV programming that gets streamed to you.
It is all feasible. The question is who is up for the next wave versus Apple.
Mike, Gerry, Rob and Ron, here is one to you and our glorious AV days. I still fondly remember all that we went through together.
3 David Ting // Oct 28, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Reed, I missed you on my last post. Still remember the brilliant mind that does not require sleep.
4 Rob Teegarden // Oct 29, 2008 at 10:17 am
Hey Gerry,
Great story… I put up a quick post with some pictures from back in the day. Take a look at them when you get time.
http://teegarden.net/blog/post/Bounce-Networks….
I have to agree with Mr. Ting. Those days were great and we were almost there!
5 Bounce Networks // Oct 29, 2008 at 4:11 pm
[...] Campbell recently made a post about Bounce Networks a company he and Mike Rubin started. There was a group [...]
6 Jim Kovarik // Nov 4, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Never a bad thing to swing for the fences…at least you can never look back and say you didn't try hard enought. Thanks for sharing the business plan – did nothing ever come of it? For some reason Bounce Networks sounds familiar to me.
7 Reed M Meseck // Mar 25, 2009 at 1:36 am
I am now at Big Blue (IBM) and have the good fortune in such a large enterprise to have been given a role where I can use a lot of the same entrepreneurial skills that were necessary at Bounce. When I look back at the vision and the technology of Bounce Networks and then the marketplace today, I find piece-meal solutions by comparison.
I also have found products from companies we pitched too that should be in litigation with the assets of Bounce for ripping off our concept, model and design.
What a collection of great individuals that all worked as a team to produce something that today is still lightyears ahead and to be proud of.
A unique time with some very unique and talented folks that will not be forgotten.
8 outdoor kitchen cabinets // Jun 12, 2009 at 1:49 am
Wow good story thanks for sharing, without music we cant't live can you believe i can't sit in my office without listening the music if music is there then i will work very seriously otherwise no interest in the work. usually i will listen music up to night 12pm.
9 Explosives Automation // Jun 13, 2009 at 8:59 am
I was surprised to know that you guys actually built it in 2001! It was deceivingly advanced!
10 classical music // Jun 15, 2009 at 9:48 pm
WOW yhis is amazing i just cant stop myself to be amazed, you guys are totally brilliant.
11 SLR Camera // Jun 15, 2009 at 11:58 pm
this is so very great and nice story, It still sounds like a thing of the future and it is so far out there that all we got were looks of confusion from nearly to everyone.,”,
12 Eve // Jun 16, 2009 at 5:29 am
Very intriguing. If you don't mind, are there any updates on how your network is doing? Any new projects?
13 cb3000 // Jun 16, 2009 at 6:56 am
I do hope that you guys will get back together and ultimately continue building this promising project of yours. You've got a vision far and wide of its promising innovation, I don't see any reason on why you shouldn't pursue it.
14 Dental // Jul 7, 2009 at 1:47 am
What a great thing, hope someone will invest on it.
15 real estate mountain lake // Jul 9, 2009 at 10:06 am
Interesting post and very informative post, very good plan i agree with you thanks for sharing the information.
16 IPO // Aug 25, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Music is always something that can play wonders in the life of people.