Ooma's pitch to American households fit in a small box: stop paying the phone company for a landline. Its Ooma Telo plugged into a home internet connection and turned it into phone service with HD voice and extra features. Readers of a leading consumer research magazine ranked it the number one home phone service for satisfaction and value. When it filed in 2015, Ooma was also selling the same idea to small businesses.

A Box Against the Landline

Ooma was founded in late 2003 to build new kinds of home communications. It launched its first device, the Ooma Hub, in the U.S. in 2007. Customers bought the hardware once and paid little or nothing each month for basic calling. Ooma made money from premium features and its business service. Sean Parker, the Napster co-founder and early Facebook president, sat on its board.

Thirteen Dollars on the NYSE

Ooma priced at $13 a share in July 2015 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OOMA. Over the next decade it kept adding products, from home security sensors to phone systems for small businesses. Customers still bought a device once and paid for premium features as they went. Ooma stayed independent. It still trades on the NYSE and is based in Sunnyvale, California.

Cover: Conversation, Théophile-Alexandre Pierre Steinlen. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for two people in conversation (a phone call).