Being an Iridium investor in the late 1990s was quite an experience. This was the dotcom boom, and Iridium looked like the next step in communications-- imagine being able to make a call or send data from anywhere in the world? Without the expense and cost of building out the cell network!

Shares in the company built in value with each launch as each launch put another major chunk of infrastructure in orbit.

This was totally different than those dotcom trifles like "Flooz" who you knew would just never amount to anything.

I still have my Iridium share certificate.

Alas, there was a bankruptcy, common holders were wiped out, and while it wasn't the total scam that GlobalStar and Global Crossing (The latter I consider to be a deliberate fraud much worse than Enron) it sure felt kinda shady.

I can say we're not in a stock bubble now in part because things like this are not going on the way they were.

Iridium was an expensive lesson for me. If only I'd put that money into Apple-- and the kicker-- I thought about it seriously.

That said, over the years, I've made a lot more from stock picking than I ever have from any index fund. It's not as hard as people make out, or as impossible... but you do learn lessons. And iridium was a lesson.

On some level, I'm glad it's still operational, though I think it's sad that so many years have passed and the network hasn't advanced significantly enough to give terrestrial carriers a run for their money.