The End of a Journey, the Beginning of a New One

November 28, 2005   

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Over the past four and half years, I have had the pleasure to share a wonderful journey with all of you. Thanks to your passion, dedication, grit, commitment, tenacity, and to some sheer luck, we have succeeded where many have failed. I am indebted to all of you for this wonderful experience, and I am proud to have been part of this remarkable team.

My aspirations and ambitions are now taking me in a different direction. I resigned from my position as CEO of Zingy effective November 30, 2005. I will take a few months off and spend some time musing about entrepreneurship, business and life on this new blog on the way to finding my next adventure.

I look forward to seeing you all again on the journey of life!

  • Dear Fabrice,

    I have to say I’m not totally surprised you are leaving Zingy for a new adventure. There are only two companies in the wireless universe that really know what innovation and knowledge of the business mean. One is Nokia and the other one is Fabrice Grinda.

    The US wireless community should really give you an award to be the first one to show the way to go in this business and I’m pretty happy and honored to heve been part of your team.

    I’m not much different from you. I believe so badly in this business and its potentiality that a certain point I decided to take a break to look for my new era as well.

    I really wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart and I really hope we will have the possibility to collaborate again in the future.

    Reply

  • Fabrice,

    I am glad you are entering the blog world. I plan to read your blog to watch your thoughts evolution over the next month/years.

    Interesting that you admit lacking “the creativity to come up with brilliant new ideas” while we agree ideas are basically cheap but key is how to get them implemented !

    I have been watching your “Zingy Journey” and wish you the best for the next ones. Maybe time to make some babies – future serial entrepeneurs 🙂

    Question : On your 9 business selection ideas, where does the Team / Human factor stand ? how do you go about it ? Do you still believe we can grow such a business alone or we need from the beginning a team of entrepeneurs with different competences together ?

    Reply

  • Fabrice,

    Having a great management team is definitely a key success factor in any business. My criteria are a bit different if I am looking to start a company or if I am looking to invest in the company.

    When I start companies, I typically avoid having co-founders – at least co-founders with large stakes in the company. Besides the obvious dilution from having co-founders, the reason is that companies are not democracies. It’s good to listen to all points of view, but at the end of the day you need to take a decision without dissent. It’s all the more important in startups where taking a decision rapidly – even the wrong one and fixing it later – is often more important than not taking any decision. It is harder to sustain leadership in companies with equal co-founders as at some points their beliefs, aspirations and interests are likely to diverge.

    When I invest in companies, it is absolutely a must for me to get along with the management team, respect their capacity to execute and vision. Moreover, I must see eye to eye with the CEO and make sure our aspirations are in line. That said, the team need not be fully formed, I can help recruit the rest of the team.

    Reply

  • Fabrice,

    Enjoy your well-deserved time off. I would go into battle with you again any day. You are an efficient and effective machine that has maintained your humanity well, which is seemingly a rare combination.

    Take care.

    best, hal

    Reply