Boulevard of broken dreams

I don't outwardly despise the practices of big business. I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I did, or at least constantly frustrated by the trends I write about every day.

Sure, I'd rather get my caffeine fix from a neighborhood coffee stand than a corporate conglomerate. I'd rather buy my goods from independent merchants than superstores. If I had the option, and if quality and service levels were equal, I would also prefer to buy wireless service from a start-up than an incumbent.

I respect and admire the philosophies of entrepreneurs, but when it comes to the high-tech business I'm not so short-sighted as to think that companies must remain small to be respectable. The questions that always come to mind when I'm talking to or writing about entrepreneurial telecom companies, though, are these: How can you maintain the ways of a start-up when the ultimate goal is to be successful and, by definition, bigger? How can you remain competitive and innovative when the tendency in growth is to become predatory and dull?

Fortunately for newcomers to the wireless sector-or unfortunately, depending on your perspective-these are questions that have yet to become issues. The potential and promise the new wireless entrants showed just a few years ago has scarcely been delivered.

There are some possible explanations as to why wireless competition has thus far overpromised and underdelivered. First, the nature of the technology business is to aim high and deliver low. New wireless entrants wanted to make a statement and assumed that the market would let them put their money where their mouths were. The market didn't, and many of them were left with their mouths hanging open.

There's also the regulatory excuse-the FCC's spectrum auction strategy was hopelessly flawed and skewed to favor large wireless entities. I won't even begin to wallow in that mire.

PCS. For many the whole concept of a new competitive wireless state was a ticket out of the sticks. I remember talking to people in the early days of PCS-all of about three years ago-who had spent their careers at Bell company wireless units and couldn't wait to start a competitive company that would shake off that stodgy, outdated process.

Where are they today? Some of them are ruined, having struggled through the FCC's wireless licensing process and emerged broken. Some of them are heads of companies that bear no resemblance to the vision they communicated several years ago. Some of them gave up on wireless and either flew back to the protection of the mother ship or took their competitive inklings into the much more inviting local service arena.

Every time someone mentions the taboo topic of wireless entrepreneurship I always think of Airadigm Communications. Here's a company that created a legitimate, logical strategy and bought C block licenses only in and around its familiar home turf. It built out and launched its network with very little complaining about the process. Now, Airadigm seems to be enjoying substantial success and is even beginning to foray into enhanced areas like tiered pricing and in-building service.

The story of Airadigm even comes complete with a feel-good chapter about a local Indian reservation that wanted to legitimize its financial holdings by getting out of the casino business and investing in Airadigm instead.

Airadigm's challenge in this world of mergers and acquisitions is to maintain uniqueness with growth. In the meantime, others that chased entrepreneurial urges and ended up flat on their faces could learn some lessons from Airadigm's approach: Set your goals at an attainable level. Create a business plan, and have a background that makes you a legitimate entrepreneur. Start with the basics, then expand.

And above all, take an innovative approach to business that makes you the kind of company people want to give their money to.