The importance of risk-taking

We all hear about the dangers of taking risks all the time. Any time you put a lot on the table, you risk losing it all. There are countless stories of people who have. Rarely do you hear stories about what can happen when you play it safe. If you are familiar with Apple co-founder Ron Wayne’s story, then you already know. But if you are not, it is definitely worth a read.

Celebrating 10 years…

On June 19th we will be celebrating out 10th birthday. Wikipedia attributes the dot-com bust as originating on March 19, 2000, just several months before we bravely (or insanely) decided to go into business.

We weren’t known as Rokland back then, and in the last ten years, more than just our name has changed. It has been an amazing experience, and we have seen a lot along the way. We still remember touting the benefits of early 802.11 wireless networking over infrared networking. And who could forget how nice x-jack modems were, being able to use any standard phone cord with your laptop for dial-up Internet.

The technology business is all about predicting things, and attempting to develop and sell what people want. Sometimes it is about making them want something they don’t even know they need. We lived without smartphones and Facebook for thousands of years and now many of us consider these necessities of life. In the last ten years we have made a number of correct predictions and we have had our share of incorrect ones. We won't get into the details of those here, but fortunately the hits have been higher in number than the misses, and we are working hard to keep that going for the next ten years and beyond.

We want to thank everyone we have come in contact with this past decade- the many of you who are repeat buyers, and also those that had some complaints. Those complaints helped us improve our processes and become better as a business. Thanks to our suppliers, and our employees present and past.

It is hard to imagine what the business and technology landscape will look like ten years from now. We look forward to going along for the ride though and hopefully to making some more splashes of our own!