The Belgian Waffle

A scrappy Flemish speech recognition company tries to put its hometown on the global tech map.

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• (00:00) - A Pie to the Face
• (01:00) - Welcome to Oh My Fraud
• (06:00) - Welcome to Flanders, Belgium
• (07:30) - Meet the Founders: Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie
• (09:30) - The Dream of Voice Recognition
• (15:12) - Going Public in a Crowded Market
• (17:42) - Creating the Flanders Language Valley
• (21:42) - Gaston Bastiaens and His Wine Cellar Wager
• (26:23) - Microsoft's $45 Million Investment
• (29:23) - The Philosophy of Pie Throwing
• (30:53) - Explosive Growth and Suspicious Numbers
• (32:53) - Dragon Systems and Dictaphone Acquisitions
• (35:23) - The Korean Revenue Mystery
• (38:23) - Wall Street Journal Starts Digging
• (42:18) - "I Lied About Everything"
• (43:48) - The Resignation and Bankruptcy
• (47:48) - The SEC Reveals the Fraud
• (49:48) - Criminal Convictions and Symbolic Justice
• (50:48) - Lessons Learned: Fake It Till You Make It
• (52:18) - What Happened to the Technology
• (53:48) - Closing Thoughts

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Sources:

• How Hype Hurt Lernout & Hauspie [Bloomberg via Wayback Machine]
• How High-Tech Dream Shattered In Scandal at Lernout & Hauspie [WSJ]
• Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products: Financing From Start-up through IPO [INSEAD, Herwig Langohr, Benoit Leleux, Danny Lein, July 2000, accessed on Sept. 16, 2025]
• Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products: The Question [INSEAD, Arnoud De Meyer, Bart Pycke, January 1998, accessed on Sept. 16, 2025]
• Quarterdeck Office Systems [Wikipedia]
• Patent Is Won By Quarterdeck [NYT]
• Internet Hype Gives New Life to Quarterdeck Stock [LAT]
• Gaston Bastiaens [Apple.Fandom]
• Today in Apple history: Apple exec bets his wine cellar on Newton [CultofMac]
• Will Microsoft's Stake in Lernout & Hauspie Drive Growth in Speech? [Speech Technology Magazine]
• In Brussels, Gates Takes a Pie in the Face [Reuters via Wayback Machine]
• Bill Gates Being Hit in the Face With a Pie (1998) [YouTube]
• Noël Godin [Wikipedia]
• He Plasters Paris’ Elite With Cream Pies [LAT]
• Bernard-Henri Levy Pied again in Belgium [YouTube]
• FM Interviews: Noël Godin [First Monday]
• Lernout & Hauspie Shares Drop Amid Puzzling Revenue Results [WSJ]
• Lernout & Hauspie Surges In Korea, Raising Questions [WSJ]
• Lernout's Bastiaens Will Step Down From CEO Post at Software Concern [WSJ]
• Lernout to Refile Financial Reports; Co-Founders Resign as Chairmen [WSJ]
• Lernout Files for Bankruptcy Protection, Says Cash at South Korean Unit Is Missing [WSJ]
• The Talk of Flanders Has Most Speechless [AP]
• Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, N.V., Litigation Release No. 17782, Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 1648, October 10, 2002 [Securities and Exchange Commission]
• Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, N.V., Litigation Release No. 18014, March 4, 2003 [Securities and Exchange Commission]
• Lernout & Hauspie Founders Guilty in Fraud [WSJ]
• Goldman Sachs and the $580 Million Black Hole [NYT]