The kind of guy who doesn t want to name names. Specifically, he doesn t want to name his previous workplace, where a climate of despair sowed the seeds for his sardonic spin-off firm. The name of the company isn t really germane, he insists. After all, the ISP in question is long gone acquired and absorbed by a telecom giant from Denver, which was acquired by a telecom behemoth from Japan. What lives on is the humor that was spawned within its cubicles.
Despair is an Internet brand that means something to people and that s making money.
What we want to do is build a company with genuine value with a revenue stream, a customer base, and a strong brand. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. The trademarked frowny could even generate a new revenue stream frivolous intellectual property lawsuits, quips Sewell a dig at the hyper-aggressive trademarking practices of some Internet companies. Despair has doubled in revenue growth annually since they started in 1998. Sewell says they don t give out revenue figures, but they were on track for a seven-figure year.