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
  


• (42:17 ) - "I Lied About Everything"
  


• (43:47 ) - The Resignation and Bankruptcy
  


• (47:47 ) - The SEC Reveals the Fraud
  


• (49:47 ) - Criminal Convictions and Symbolic Justice
  


• (50:47 ) - Lessons Learned: Fake It Till You Make It
  


• (52:17 ) - What Happened to the Technology
  


• (53:47 ) - 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]