In the 1980s and 90s when technology innovation was virtually at the center of everyone's universe, 'stealth mode' became a popular method for acquiring a buzz of media speculation about a new company's product plans. This was especially true on the West Coast. It made some sense then and there for a couple of key reasons: competing companies were stealing eachother's people left and right; and two, stealth mode gave the start-up team an accepted cover for saying nothing, responding to nothing. But the whole idea went out of fashion about as fast as the bee-hive hairdo because ridiculous ideas have a habit of doing that.  But every once in a while, you can still spot the old coif and still find a start-up over-teasing their un-story via stealth mode and the code of silence. Why is this stupid? I could write a book in answer to that, but this is a blog post so here's the short answer:

1. Genuinely innovative ideas take time to gain traction; 2. Preconditiong prospects in advance of product availability gives people time to understand and appreciate the new solution; 2a. This means when the start-up finally has something to sell, its sales ramp won't be measured in light years; 3. Purchase decisions in favor of competitive products will be made that wouldn't otherwise be made during this period of silence if the new entrant moves its lips a little; 3a. Other would-be competitors that might enter the exact same space will stay out of the space if they think it is already cocupied by a strong contender; 4. If the new idea upon which a company is being built is flawed, a little preconditioning will expose those problems early so there's time to correct the plan; 5. No one in the media thinks stealth mode signals great things under wraps, unless the CEO is Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tom Watson back from the dead or some other icon with that level of genuine celebrity status; 6. If and when the start up gains success, it's going to need people at all levels and people don't go very easily to companies they've never heard about.

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