A Tribute to Speakeasy

One of the new CEO's duties was to raise more money to continue to build and grow its network and services.

After securing $24m in additional funding, the company used it to power new options for its customers. It purchased a gaming company in order to expand its services to the gaming community, and introduced a couple of innovative new services.

Since the Launch of DSL, one of the more cost-effective services -- ADSL -- was delivered via lineshare with existing voice lines. This required customers to maintain a landline, a practice which was quickly becoming a thing of the past. Speakeasy's OneLink service enabled its customers to sign up for ADSL services without maintaining a voice line.

Later that year, they also jumped into Voice Over IP (VoIP) service, focusing initially on residential customers. This would eventually become the primary focus of the organization, and ultimately resulted in its transition away from home users and a focus on small businesses.

A final creative partnership came in the form of a private WEEN show, specifically for Speakeasy's customers and community.

2004 also marked Gretchen's exit from Speakeasy, as she gave birth to her and Mike's first child, daughter Dara.