“IPO quiet period interviews, as a rule, are tricky affairs.
Like congressional hearings, most are heavy on the
hand-over-the-microphone dramatics as $200-per-hour attorneys turn
even the simplest “how are you?” question into a Fifth Amendment
challenge.”
“For Bryan Sparks, however, it’s just another interview. Maybe
that’s because as founder, chairman and chief executive of Lineo
Inc., the Lindon, Utah-based embedded Linux player, Sparks is the
type of man used to relying on his own counsel. Then again, when an
awkwardly phrased question asks him to compare his company with
another recent Linux IPO hopeful, San Francisco-based Linuxcare,
even Sparks must apologize and click the telephone mute
button.”
“Granted, Sparks has his reasons for staying silent. Given
the current market attitude towards Linux-related companies, an
attitude that can be described as ambiguous at best, the last thing
he needs to do is go comparing himself to anybody else, least of
all a fellow Linux company that watched its IPO hopes melt in the
wake of management turmoil and shifting investor mood.“