The Belgian Waffle

Episode 95

A scrappy Flemish speech recognition company tries to put its hometown on the global tech map.

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(00:00) - A Pie to the Face
(01:00) - Welcome to Oh My Fraud
(06:00) - Welcome to Flanders, Belgium
(07:30) - Meet the Founders: Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie
(09:30) - The Dream of Voice Recognition
(15:12) - Going Public in a Crowded Market
(17:42) - Creating the Flanders Language Valley
(21:42) - Gaston Bastiaens and His Wine Cellar Wager
(26:23) - Microsoft's $45 Million Investment
(29:23) - The Philosophy of Pie Throwing
(30:53) - Explosive Growth and Suspicious Numbers
(32:53) - Dragon Systems and Dictaphone Acquisitions
(35:23) - The Korean Revenue Mystery
(38:23) - Wall Street Journal Starts Digging
(42:18) - "I Lied About Everything"
(43:48) - The Resignation and Bankruptcy
(47:48) - The SEC Reveals the Fraud
(49:48) - Criminal Convictions and Symbolic Justice
(50:48) - Lessons Learned: Fake It Till You Make It
(52:18) - What Happened to the Technology
(53:48) - Closing Thoughts

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Sources:

How Hype Hurt Lernout & Hauspie [Bloomberg via Wayback Machine]
How High-Tech Dream Shattered In Scandal at Lernout & Hauspie [WSJ]
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products: Financing From Start-up through IPO [INSEAD, Herwig Langohr, Benoit Leleux, Danny Lein, July 2000, accessed on Sept. 16, 2025]
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products: The Question [INSEAD, Arnoud De Meyer, Bart Pycke, January 1998, accessed on Sept. 16, 2025]
Quarterdeck Office Systems [Wikipedia]
Patent Is Won By Quarterdeck [NYT]
Internet Hype Gives New Life to Quarterdeck Stock [LAT]
Gaston Bastiaens [Apple.Fandom]
Today in Apple history: Apple exec bets his wine cellar on Newton [CultofMac]
Will Microsoft's Stake in Lernout & Hauspie Drive Growth in Speech? [Speech Technology

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Podcast Episode Details

The Belgian Waffle