“No matter how you cut it, you’ve got to own Cisco” (2000) - The Big Picture

there’s so much to love, learn, laugh, and cry at, in this article (my attempt at a riff on the old cisco, “changing the way the world lives, learns, works and plays” tagline). i joined cisco in late 2000 and never saw those initial options issued to me upon signing up become worth anything. i got more value from the charmin i bought at target every couple of months. still folks were bullish on the stock’s potential.

i’ve known more than a few paper millionaires, who really should have been taking that money off the table and rebalancing their portfolios continuously. they would have been set for life even in 90s / early 00s dollas.

living through this did prove instructive. it’s interesting to see how things have developed over the past 20 years here. the company hasn’t been innovative in any interesting dimensions. they haven’t been particularly successful with the integration of acquisitions over the years.

still, they have a very solid enterprise sales force and they’re very much the 800# gorrilla in the IETF. there’s a lot to be said for inertia.