Remember your first big job opportunity? Raise your hand if you’ve never led a startup.
Working for a big company is so cool! That first day, arrive early to the office, cube is all swagg’d up in logo’d mugs, pens, notepads, shirts, hats and a laptop. Right off the bat, we tell ourselves, “now this is ‘Big Tech.’”
Two-weeks in, pens no longer work, three empty Grande Caramel Macchiatos with Whip salute from the far reaches of the desk corner and “Big Tech” pink and yellow sticky notes encircle twin monitors like dueling Ferris wheels at a Palo Alto street carnival. But hey, it’s so cool!
“Working for ‘Big Tech’ is where we’re all headed.”
We’ve been barreling through tech-space, traveling at light speed, gobbling data like there’s no tomorrow, launching startups faster and faster everyday, on our way towards our “Big Tech” employer, ever since that day in September 2000, when Padraic McFreen launched his tech startup, MiVu.
Collectively, we’ve both witnessed and instigated the frenzied pace of technical advancement. Tech startups launched since September 1, 2000, grows daily with hopes of either catching or riding unicorns. There’s reason for concern.
Technologists polish their Otis Pitch to VC’s, and VC’s shine their lenses, because “everything is a lead…every lead is a startup deal.” Startup deals mean one cube closer to the exit sign and exits mean “Big Tech.”
Two-years before launching MiVu, Padraic McFreen saw in his “technical potential study results, the commencement of the third decade after its founding.” What he saw, led him to delay his launch by 27 months.
“20 years ago end-users were counting ‘nights and weekend’ minutes. MiVu has made us all data analysts.”
According to Padraic McFreen, he calculated “widespread adoption of MiVu technology and networks. MiVu’s primary customers, the Internet Service Providers’, end-users, were projected to mature throughout the adoption curve and even more so on into the mainstream.”
“End-use would not follow traditional curve rules, but experiences would fuel an inflection point at year 7, thereby creating secondary adoption and maturation curves, then another set at year 12, then another set at year 19 and on through to 2050.”
“By 2040, more than 81% of 20th Century employment opportunities obsolete”
Padraic McFreen delayed MiVu intentionally, because — in his words — he had a “broken heart after learning what the numbers showed: massive employment losses as a result of the inherent and unavoidable exploitation and adoption of ‘artificialization’ capability potentials embedded within the design of MiVu.”
Between the Spring of 1998 and the Fall of 2000, Padraic McFreen designed MiVu four times.
Each iteration resulted in the same outcome. In his mind and heart, he couldn’t in good conscience, put families out of work. There had to be “a better way.”
“MiVu, as designed, was broken into four pieces or phases.”
As an alternative, Padraic McFreen divided MiVu into four discrete parts. Of the four, part one, Information & Entertainment (I/E), became Phase One and the remainder, Phases Two through Four, respectively.
Padraic McFreen deemed Phase One, I/E, to be the least disruptive as well as the smallest by way of total market potential. I/E also had the highest rate of adoption due to what he believed to be a massive hole in the marketplace for new and emerging media. Also, I/E would serve as the gateway to societal adoption and integration of intelligent networks, systems and services, i.e., MiVu.
So, on August 31, 2000, the eve before launch, Padraic McFreen removed Phases Two-Four from MiVu’s startup scope and opened for business at 4:44 AM, September 1, 2000, as MiVu, The 21st Century Access Network.
“40 Days” not only reveals some pretty significant facts about Padraic McFreen and his then startup MiVu, but also asks you and I, my dear reader, to take a serious look at where we are today and where we’re headed in 2021 and beyond.
There’s absolutely no better leader nor company to bring this conversation to the fore, than the leader that not only envisioned our digital society, but also did the heavy lifting by designing it, and the company that started us across this fresh powder.
As for my weekly housekeeping, today’s installment is all mine. Padraic McFreen has, as a result of his discussions with Fortune 100 advisers this week, instructed me to “run with it.” Are you ready? I am.
We’ve covered a bit of preliminary ground here today already, but this author needs to remind you of the fact that MiVu is a Black owned and operated technology company, founded in Overland Park, Kansas in 4Q/2000. That’s “Black technology company.”
It’s important to keep this fact in mind throughout our reading and sharing of these “40 Days.” A great deal of emphasis is placed on sharing. Black tech companies are super important to our overall digital transformation.
“40 Days” is getting the attention of “Big Tech,” and though this author’s work here has now been published — and additional interest is expressed almost daily — every leader that needs to read MiVu’s “40 Days” may not do so without you, my dear reader. Share “40 Days.”
Let’s jump back in, shall we?
The I/E phase of the MiVu Internet Network implementation was to be for the “exclusive aggregation, transformation, encapsulation, distribution and delivery of consumer class primary content.” In other words, the new revolutionary MiVu Internet Network was designed to “only collect content of any type, convert it to data, package it, assign instructions to it, then, send it on its way to the Last Mile.” That’s it.
Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs didn’t know about the four MiVu networks
The original MiVu Network design includes its four layers, with each layer having its own network topology. No two networks were designed to be alike, nor utilize same data type.
The reason, the mere inclusion of I/E introduces significant data risks and, according to Padraic McFreen, “customers don’t want me treating business and financial data the same way I treat movie, telephony, game and audio data.” “The I/E layer is vulnerable due to its design.”
So, does this have anything to do with our career and working for “Big Tech?” Everything.
Padraic McFreen launched MiVu around his then revolutionary Internet Network. As we’ve learned, the Internet Network that was disclosed to Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs, who then disclosed to IEEE, Telefonica, SBC Communications, Apple, Sprint and so many others, is an I/E Internet Network, not a mission critical Internet Network.
The full and complete 21st Century Access Network has four layers, utilizing four different data types and four vastly different configurations and topology.
Padraic McFreen has expressed concern about the way AT&T, Nokia, Apple, and the remaining market players have loaded MiVu Phase One. “MiVu Phase One became obsolete in 2007.”
“We are 14 years late.”
As this author has discussed, there were significant failures in the technology space in 2000. Nearly every successful tech company today, was failing or near bankrupt before MiVu saved the tech industry. Padraic McFreen believes we’re at a critical point in our maturity — “an inflection point.”
Tomorrow, this author continues with “40 Days: Powered By MiVu, Part II,” wherein I discuss in detail the path from here to being employees of “Big Tech” and share details of my final sit down with Padraic McFreen, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, MiVu.