SyVox, 15 years later...

From: tschibasch <tschibasch_at_yahoo.com_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 00:33:01 -0000

I don't want to be too obsessive, but today marks a special
anniversary for me:

It was 15 years ago today (February 13th, 1989) that I started working
at Speech Systems in Tarzana, California. I worked for there over 13
years, or about 1/3 of my life. Here's a peak:

February 1989: The day after I was hired, there was a 25% layoff. The
man who hired me and who was to be my immediate supervisor was hit.
The employees later referred to this as the "St. Valentine's Massacre
Lay-Off".

June 1991: After months of mini-layoffs, the entire company went out
of business without severance pay. Two weeks later, it rehired a
"skeleton crew". Since I love horror films so much, ;-) I was brought
on board. Out of nearly 50 previous employees there were five of us
remaining.

July 1992: The company opened an office in Boulder, Colorado. This
became the de facto headquarters of Speech Systems. New stock
certificates were cheerfully issued.

June 1993: Speech Systems California moves from Tarzana to a smaller
office in Canoga Park. More stock certificates were issued with a
promise of a coming IPO.

January 1994: The terrible LA earthquake. The office in Canoga Park
was destroyed. Three of us relocated work to our homes, while the
other two moved to Boulder.

July 1995: Here was the promised date of the IPO. We passed this
milestone with nary a mention of it.

June 1998: "Speech Systems" was given a new name: "SyVox Corporation".
New business cards and stock options were issued.

September 1998: SyVox California opened a new office in Santa Monica.
All employees were given cool company shirts and coffee mugs. A new
date for the IPO was promised.

July 1999: More hiring. SyVox headquarters in Boulder moved to a
larger building. A European branch of the company opened up in
Belgium. A brand new company logo was made, and new business cards and
stock certificates were issued.

January 2000: SyVox employees received cash bonuses (their first and
last) at a celebrated year-end company meeting: $50 each.

May 2002: After months of mini-layoffs, the company went out of
business, without severance. Also they had stopped covering our
medical insurance for the last several weeks before the end.

None of us were called back this time. Thank goodness for that!

:-)

Okay, I got it out of my system... Have a great weekend, everyone.


John
Received on 2004-02-13 16:33:08