Vanishing VoIP Companies
Since the VoIP industry started to take off it has seen its share of companies that have risen and fallen. There are many reasons for the failures; each case comes with a unique set of circumstances. Some enjoyed quick success only to be overwhelmed by too large of a customer base, while others simply could not raise enough capital to keep going. Here is a brief look at some VoIP companies that have faded away.
VoIP Inc: Everything seemed to be going great for VoIP Inc. They had plans to start working with internet giants Google and Ebay, but then suddenly went out of business early in 2008. Under pressure from angry shareholders, the company eventually revealed that it hadn’t been making profit the past four years and was on a crash course for failure.
Sun Rocket: Sun Rocket’s competitive prices granted them success and a large customer base very quickly, but, due to customer service problems and outages, it just couldn’t produce enough revenue to maintain its speedy growth.
Talk Plus: Without any unique features to differentiate themselves from the competition, this is a simple case of a company just not being able to interest investors enough to raise any more capital to stay afloat.
Pulvermedia: After its founder, Jeff Pulver, lost interest in VoIP the company was put under new management. They were able raise $11 million in capital from the TICC Capital Group, but were unable to pay off the interest. Eventually, in the spring of 2008, TICC took control of Pulvermedia and shut its doors.
Pingtel: Pingtel bet on making its money in IP-PBX, but the market didn’t prove to be frugal enough. The company was bought by Bluesocket in the summer of 2007, but it didn’t work out. Then, in the summer of 2008, Nortel cut a deal with Bluesocket for specific Pingtel assets and employees.
It’s too easy to simply say that all of these companies failed as result of one common factor. No matter the size or success, challenges can arise from anywhere in an organization at any point in time. If anything can be learned from ultimate demise of these companies, it’s that gaining an edge in the market by interesting investors and executing responsible management make all the difference when trying to survive in the VoIP industry.
Uncategorized | fbnewman | 
March 24, 2009 7:51 pm
Subscribe
