Back in 2000 (seriously!), I was introduced to a small group of guys in Redmond, WA. These guys were former Real Networks engineers, and had their original stoc

Back in 2000 (seriously!), I was introduced to a small group of guys in Redmond, WA. These guys were former Real Networks engineers, and had their original stock certificates in frames on the walls. The product they were building was a cross-platform media player. It would stream music/video/audio/etc. and work on PCs and Macs. They had been in operation for just a few months, and had a great prototype in place. I interviewed with them and really liked their story. They followed up days later and invited me back one more time -- presumably to talk about joining. A few days later I'm in my car, driving to their location. I actually have a cellular phone and it starts buzzing. I pick up (yes, nobody cared about driving & talking in 2000) and it's my friend who introduced me to these guys. The conversation goes like this: Me: Hello Friend: Hey, what are you doing? Me: I'm on my way to meet with those guys again. Friend: Are you there yet? Me: No. Why? Friend: Turn your car around, and don't drive near that place. Me: Why? Friend: Their place is being raided right now. Cops everywhere. Me: What? Friend: They are taking away everything. Me: (turns car around, never speaks with them again) Real Networks had filed an injunction and the company was raided on charges of stolen intellectual property. I never learned the details, but as my colleague told me later -- he's pretty sure most of what they were doing had been built at Real Networks.