Blake (continued from page 2): The other thing that’s just been great are the phone calls and e-mails from people, whether they’re a customer off the street or they’re the head of some big media company. Getting phone calls from them congratulating us is a real good feeling. We really believed you can build a company for the people. I mean we’re just a bunch of consumers just like you are and the community. But to do that in a way where we can compete real fiercely, but not as a bunch of a-holes, you can be successful. I still don’t know when we’re really successful to be honest. There’s always a different bar. I was having a conversation with my wife a few months ago, and I was telling her how I want so much to make this successful, and she’s looking at me saying, “What are you talking about? It’s already successful.” I’m like, “We’re not, you know. We’re not really where we want to be. We’ve got so much more to build and so many more things we want to do.” And she continued to tell me it was already a success, but I couldn’t understand that. Even after this acquisition… that’s another milestone, and obviously a non-trivial one, but we’re still not successful. Until you can no longer improve and no longer innovate, it’s like you haven’t achieved what you can really achieve.

So, I don’t know how I’m really feeling… I just got a whole bunch of [stuff] going through my head. I guess relieved is the best thing, because I just want to get back to products. I’ve been less involved over the last couple of months, especially because of all the other stuff you’ve got to do with financing and everything else. To be able to spend some more time rolling up your sleeves and start working with the team and tweaking this and that and coming up with new ideas… that’s the fun stuff. That’s the stuff you guys see and will appreciate.

Matt: So you said the team there was all fired up. What was the reaction after you broke the news? What did you do to celebrate?

Blake: People here were screaming a little bit; we announced it around 11 AM in San Mateo. At the same time, Bhupen [Shah] was in Bangalore telling the BTC (Banglaore Technology Center) guys, Jason Hirschhorn was telling the Sling Entertainment Group, and Stuart [Collingwood] out in the UK was telling that team. So we told everybody, and whipped out some bubbly… and Baja Fresh (laughs). We’ve got a Baha Fresh right down in our building, so people were making burritos and drinking champagne at lunchtime.

What was really cool was Charlie and Mark Jackson, who’s the president of EchoStar Technologies, and Dan Minnick, who’s the lead software guy at Echo, all flew out from Denver to meet the team and talk to folks here. That was around five o’clock here or so, and we had some chicken wings and veggies and beer from the Safeway down the street. Then we got them back on an airplane and flew back. It was really nice for them to come out and meet folks here.

I mean Charlie… the guy founded the company. He’s a real entrepreneur. He founded that thing 27 years ago. The stories of how they’ve built that company is just crazy. I mean you think we’re crazy… they were shooting rockets in the sky hoping that the things don’t blow up… literally. They threw all their money and bet on a Chinese rocket [referring to the launch of EchoStar I, the first Dish Network Satellite (right)] where the one right before it blew up, and there was a fifty percent chance of theirs blowing up. And if it did, the company was done. Instead it went up and flew like a bird, and the rest is history. Crazy stuff.

Matt: So no rockets in Sling’s future?

Blake: Well… there’s some pretty interesting things, I’ve got to say. I can’t go into too much detail, but there’s some pretty interesting things that I think we’re going to be able to cook up. Can’t tell you yet.

Matt: One of the things everyone is curious about is you and Jason [Krikorian]. Are you guys going to stay on board and continue steering the ship? What are you guys going to do?

Blake: We are totally going to be here… we’re not going anywhere. We’re totally fired up and are going to rock. We’ve got so much more to do… until all you guys on the community have zero complaints (laughs) and zero suggestions, we got work to do. And I hope you never get there. So we’re not going anywhere, and I think a very significant number of people, thought it’s always hard to know if you can get all of them, I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in the company is still here a year from now. We just gotta keep going man, and I’m just going to be able to not worry as much, but I think that’s probably impossible since I’ll always find something to worry about.

We were playing at the little five dollar tables. Now we’re just going up playing at a different table. It’s the same game, just bigger stakes so it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be really fun.

Matt: I’d really like to thank you for taking a half-hour of your time to speak with me.

Blake: Absolutely, I really wish I can do it more often. I really want to thank the community for all their support and their encouragement. Just keep coming with the ideas, and the all the requests, and keep challenging us to improve. Everybody here just appreciates that so much. You know it’s so hard to improve when everyone’s drinking their own kool-aid too much. You want to be grounded, and you guys help us stay really grounded on what’s important. So please, please, please keep that up.

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I'd like to give an extra special thanks to Blake for taking time out if extremely busy schedule to spend time talking to me and the SlingCommunity. On behalf of everyone here, congratulations to Blake and Jason Krikorian for your continued success. We all thank you for your excellent products and ongoing devotion to empower consumers. With any luck, we'll be able to get you back here speaking with us again soon.

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