Sonopia
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Sonopia was a Menlo Park-based MVNO launched in April 2007 by Juha Christensen (former head of Microsoft's mobile business and a Symbian co-founder). Its 'MVNO of MVNOs' model let any organization, club or individual create its own branded mini mobile network on Verizon Wireless's backbone in about 15 minutes, sharing subscriber revenue with Sonopia. Partners ranged from the National Parks Conservation Association to the Chicago Bandits softball team. It raised about $21.5 million from ComVentures and Sevin Rosen Funds.
02 / Sonopia FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Sonopia failed to gain sufficient traction. A former business-development consultant described a model that expected community organizations to handle complex marketing and mobile-service operations beyond their capabilities; constraints from its carrier partner added difficulty.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Launch
Sonopia launches April 2007 on Verizon's network; Christensen expects 10,000 branded 'mobile operators' by 2009; named to Fierce Wireless's 'Fierce 15'.
- Shutdown
March 2008: Sonopia lays off all US staff and winds down operations; subscribers are transitioned to partners. CEO Christensen claims the company will 'wait out the storm' from a reduced base in Ukraine, but operations never return.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Apr 2007: launched on Verizon; $21.5M raised; Fierce 15 list.
- 02
Mar 2008: US staff laid off; operations wound down; subscribers transitioned.
- 03
No reliable company-level loss figure disclosed.