The other night I had the opportunity to attend a Board of CEOs meeting in Mountain View, CA and got advice from a room full of very sharp Silicon Valley CEOs. It didn’t go the way I’d hoped, but it did give me much to think about.

In this round table group, each CEO gets a chance to present a business issue or challenge to their peers and get feedback and problem solving support. The issue I presented was: “Help me figure out how to describe this incredibly huge and multi-faceted vision succinctly so people will get it”. Instead, they all agreed that trying to present this as one super ambitious project is almost certain to fail. The consensus was that I should focus on delivering one simple service that meets a clear need in the marketplace right now, and build from there.

I totally understand that logic. After all, Microsoft started as just a couple guys writing software programs that people were willing to pay for. Facebook started out as just a simple app to allow people to share their profiles. They were just looking a couple steps ahead and one thing led to the next. The business world is full of similar stories. Not to detract from the business savvy of the founders of these businesses, but it does seem to me that there’s a strong element of random chance involved in the process of transitioning from being just another business to being a fundamental platform.

But that’s not the only way it works. Steve Jobs, for example, came right out of the gate with a sweeping vision to make Apple the computer for the masses. So I believe it is possible to start from basically nothing (Steve Jobs was a 21 year old college dropout) with a lofty vision and actually create that reality, or at least some variation on it. Of course, Jobs had Woz who built a cool machine that they were able to sell. Without Woz, Jobs would be right where I am now.

That’s what the WaveCenter Project is about right now. I’m not trying to sell this service yet. I’m not even trying to raise capital. I’m simply trying to find those people who can share my vision. Together, I know we can build a useful core product that provides an immediate benefit–but that is designed from the ground up to expand into a world-class platform.