Founders at Work.pdf

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About the Author Jessica Livingston is a founding partner at Y Combinator, a seed-stage venture firm based in Cambridge, MA, and Mountain View, CA. Previously she was vice president of marketing at investment bank Adams Harkness. In addition to her work with startups at Y Combinator, Livingston organizes Startup School (www.startupschool.org). She has a BA in English from Bucknell. xiii
Acknowledgments I’d first like to thank my aunt, Ann Gregg, for her unfailing support and encouragement. She’s an extraordinarily perceptive reader and she provided a lot of advice that helped make this a better book. Thanks to the people I interviewed for sharing their stories and their time. One thing I noticed in the interviews that I didn’t mention in the Introduction is how much I liked the founders. They were genuine and smart, and it was an honor to talk with them. I know the candid nature of their stories and advice will inspire would-be founders for years to come. Thanks to Gary Cornell for being willing to do a different kind of book, and to the Apress team for working on a different kind of book. I’d like to thank many people for their willingness to make introductions: Jim Baum, Patrick Chung, Mark Coker, Jay Corscadden, Rael Dornfest, Jed Dorsheimer, Randy Farmer, Steve Frankel, Anand Gohel, Laurie Glass, James Hong, Mitch Kapor, Morgan Ley, Mike Palmer, Tom Palmer, Bryan Pearce, Andrew Pojani, Will Price, Ryan Singel, Langley Steinert, Chris Sacca, and Zak Stone. Thanks to Kate Courteau for creating cozy offices for me to work in; Lesley Hathaway for all her advice and support; Alaina and David Sloo for their many introductions; and Sam Altman, Paul Buchheit, Lynn Harris, Marc Hedlund, and Aaron Swartz, who read early chapters of the book. I owe thanks to Lisa Abdalla, Michele Baer, Jen Barron, Ingrid Bassett, Jamie Cahill, Jessica Catino, Alicia Collins, Caitlin Crowe, Julie Ellenbogen, John Gregg, Chrissy Hathaway, Katie Helmer, Susan Livingston, Nadine Miller, Sara Morrison, Bridget O’Brien, Becky Osborne, Allison Pellegrino, Jennifer Stevens, and Suzanne Woodard for their encouragement. Thanks to others who shared their insights on startups at Y Combinator dinners or with me personally: Rich Bacon, Greg Benning, Tom Churchill, Michael Ellenbogen, Jonathan Gertler, Hutch Fishman, Sara Harrington, Bill Herp, Bradley Horowitz, Joel Lehrer, Carolynn Levy, Simon London, Page Mailliard, Udi Manber, Fredrick Marckini, Greg McAdoo, Mark Macenka, Mike Mandel, Jerry Michael, Rich Miner, Mark Nitzberg, Peter Norvig, xv
Page 2 and 3: FOUNDERS AT WORK STORIES OF STARTUP
Page 4 and 5: For Da and PG
Page 6 and 7: vi Contents CHAPTER 11 ARTHUR VAN H
Page 8 and 9: Foreword Sprinters apparently reach
Page 10 and 11: Preface It’s been more than a yea
Page 14 and 15: xvi Acknowledgments Steve Papa, Tom
Page 16 and 17: xviii Introduction In addition to h
Page 18 and 19: 2 Founders at Work on the floor of
Page 20 and 21: 4 Founders at Work By then we had b
Page 22 and 23: 6 Founders at Work impressive than
Page 24 and 25: 8 Founders at Work said, “Yes, it
Page 26 and 27: 10 Founders at Work Livingston: Wer
Page 28 and 29: 12 Founders at Work The default of
Page 30 and 31: 14 Founders at Work Livingston: Did
Page 32 and 33: 16 Founders at Work pack up and bei
Page 34 and 35: 18 Founders at Work look at other t
Page 36 and 37: 20 Founders at Work management expe
Page 38 and 39: 22 Founders at Work Livingston: You
Page 40 and 41: 24 Founders at Work And then of cou
Page 42 and 43: 26 Founders at Work Livingston: The
Page 44 and 45: 28 Founders at Work Livingston: Web
Page 46 and 47: C H A P T E R 3 Steve Wozniak Cofou
Page 48 and 49: Steve Wozniak 33 I couldn’t reall
Page 50 and 51: Steve Wozniak 35 The dynamic RAMs w
Page 52 and 53: Steve Wozniak 37 Livingston: Do you
Page 54 and 55: Steve Wozniak 39 Wozniak: I got thi
Page 56 and 57: Steve Wozniak 41 living and life an
Page 58 and 59: Steve Wozniak 43 Man, when I actual
Page 60 and 61: Steve Wozniak 45 would drive the bo
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Livingston: What about Ron Wayne? W
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Steve Wozniak 49 We got the compute
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Steve Wozniak 51 anyone could look
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Steve Wozniak 53 thought, “That c
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Steve Wozniak 55 data and I said
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Livingston: On the East Coast? Stev
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Steve Wozniak 59 Steve Jobs (left)
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62 Founders at Work forward that my
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64 Founders at Work We bought two S
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66 Founders at Work Kraus: They adj
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68 Founders at Work Kraus: First, b
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70 Founders at Work unannounced.”
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C H A P T E R 5 Dan Bricklin Cofoun
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Dan Bricklin 75 Bob already had equ
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Dan Bricklin 77 actually felt good
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Livingston: Did it drive sales for
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Dan Bricklin 81 and how wide are th
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Dan Bricklin 83 Bricklin: We worked
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Dan Bricklin 85 available, with any
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Dan Bricklin 87 Bricklin: Oh, we ha
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C H A P T E R 6 Mitchell Kapor Cofo
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Mitchell Kapor 91 that I needed to
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Mitchell Kapor 93 The non-compete w
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Mitchell Kapor 95 second-generation
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Mitchell Kapor 97 I did not set out
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Mitchell Kapor 99 transitioning out
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Livingston: You weren’t bluffing?
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C H A P T E R 7 Ray Ozzie Founder,
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Ray Ozzie 105 to work in a highly m
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Ray Ozzie 107 You cannot early-bind
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Ray Ozzie 109 We were pitching Groo
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C H A P T E R 8 Evan Williams Cofou
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Evan Williams 113 The first year wa
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Evan Williams 115 turned out to tak
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Evan Williams 117 is a native form
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Evan Williams 119 Livingston: And y
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Evan Williams 121 Trellix licensed
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Evan Williams 123 search company. S
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Evan Williams 125 Williams: One thi
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128 Founders at Work So Jerry gives
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130 Founders at Work there; it was
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132 Founders at Work Livingston: Di
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134 Founders at Work Livingston: We
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136 Founders at Work company, can
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138 Founders at Work and that was a
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C H A P T E R 10 Mike Lazaridis Cof
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Mike Lazaridis 143 At the same time
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Mike Lazaridis 145 your shell and g
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Mike Lazaridis 147 they had just bo
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Mike Lazaridis 149 invested in to a
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Mike Lazaridis 151 where the buildi
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154 Founders at Work We spent about
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158 Founders at Work Livingston: Wa
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160 Founders at Work might have bee
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162 Founders at Work generation of
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164 Founders at Work in web search
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166 Founders at Work Livingston: Ho
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168 Founders at Work That took us a
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170 Founders at Work been there for
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172 Founders at Work Livingston: Wh
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174 Founders at Work the screen, im
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176 Founders at Work I had figured
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178 Founders at Work The other thin
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180 Founders at Work Then we went t
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182 Founders at Work Then we found
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184 Founders at Work Perlman: I did
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186 Founders at Work I was very imp
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188 Founders at Work adopt other te
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190 Founders at Work freedom. But t
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192 Founders at Work HP and kind of
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194 Founders at Work the model for
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196 Founders at Work Ramsay: While
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198 Founders at Work of information
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200 Founders at Work I can’t tell
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202 Founders at Work More recently,
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C H A P T E R 15 Paul Graham Cofoun
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Paul Graham 207 we didn’t want to
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Livingston: So what did happen? Pau
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Paul Graham 211 argument with “/e
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Paul Graham 213 right, that would h
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Paul Graham 215 Graham: We started
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Paul Graham 217 Livingston: So a fe
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Paul Graham 219 the truth. Our stra
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Paul Graham 221 between 1995 and 19
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C H A P T E R 16 Joshua Schachter F
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Joshua Schachter 225 time, I did, b
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Joshua Schachter 227 But you need t
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Joshua Schachter 229 Schachter: I c
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Livingston: Who did you learn thing
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C H A P T E R 17 Mark Fletcher Foun
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Mark Fletcher 235 Livingston: Tell
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Mark Fletcher 237 initially. If you
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Livingston: You worked at Sun befor
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Mark Fletcher 241 Livingston: What
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Mark Fletcher 243 been 2 weeks sinc
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Mark Fletcher 245 next morning, too
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C H A P T E R 18 Craig Newmark Foun
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Craig Newmark 249 in the UNIX/Linux
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Craig Newmark 251 Livingston: Going
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Livingston: Did you work with them?
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Craig Newmark 255 Newmark: Yes. Liv
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258 Founders at Work When we came u
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260 Founders at Work wasn’t seen
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262 Founders at Work near the embas
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264 Founders at Work This happens t
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266 Founders at Work Another lesson
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268 Founders at Work them locally w
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270 Founders at Work Livingston: Yo
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272 Founders at Work Livingston: So
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274 Founders at Work Another, I tho
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276 Founders at Work and you might
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278 Founders at Work Kahle: I’ve
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280 Founders at Work AOL took our i
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282 Founders at Work them as possib
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284 Founders at Work We said, “Fi
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286 Founders at Work which quintupl
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288 Founders at Work point sizes an
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290 Founders at Work But there was
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292 Founders at Work announced that
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294 Founders at Work Livingston: PA
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296 Founders at Work you hope they
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298 Founders at Work major. So I wa
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300 Founders at Work We see a lot o
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302 Founders at Work I think this i
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304 Founders at Work plywood, but l
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306 Founders at Work Winblad: Oh ye
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David Heinemeier Hansson Partner, 3
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were giving it a third of their tim
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David Heinemeier Hansson 313 One of
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David Heinemeier Hansson 315 Living
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C H A P T E R 24 Philip Greenspun C
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Philip Greenspun 319 manage, and I
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Philip Greenspun 321 We pushed the
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Philip Greenspun 323 let you do the
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Philip Greenspun 325 Airplane mecha
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Philip Greenspun 327 Greenspun: Yea
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Philip Greenspun 329 But due to a c
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Philip Greenspun 331 bad company, a
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Philip Greenspun 333 That was an ep
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Philip Greenspun 335 for two board
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Philip Greenspun 337 the fact that
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Philip Greenspun 339 paid my monthl
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Philip Greenspun 341 killed the com
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Philip Greenspun 343 The programmer
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C H A P T E R 25 Joel Spolsky Cofou
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Joel Spolsky 347 The consulting mar
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Joel Spolsky 349 Although it was my
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Joel Spolsky 351 Things that to us
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Joel Spolsky 353 I later talked to
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Joel Spolsky 355 had an idea of som
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Joel Spolsky 357 on my team who dec
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Joel Spolsky 359 For example, Ruby
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C H A P T E R 26 Stephen Kaufer Cof
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Stephen Kaufer 363 Kaufer: We tried
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Stephen Kaufer 365 a typical dot-co
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Stephen Kaufer 367 Livingston: Did
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Stephen Kaufer 369 from being succe
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Stephen Kaufer 371 we’re going to
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Stephen Kaufer 373 It’s perfectly
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Stephen Kaufer 375 Kaufer: I couldn
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378 Founders at Work Hong: Jim was
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380 Founders at Work But the Salon.
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382 Founders at Work and we would h
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384 Founders at Work Hong: I think
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C H A P T E R 28 James Currier Foun
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James Currier 389 results. It was j
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James Currier 391 Currier: You migh
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James Currier 393 At an HBS reunion
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396 Founders at Work had gotten muc
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404 Founders at Work Livingston: Is
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406 Founders at Work (we’ve been
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408 Founders at Work Trott: No. We
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410 Founders at Work 20 offices, an
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412 Founders at Work that we didn
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414 Founders at Work Trott: It’s
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416 Founders at Work Livingston: Wh
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C H A P T E R 31 Bob Davis Founder,
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Bob Davis 421 Livingston: Was this
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Bob Davis 423 that way. So we weren
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Bob Davis 425 Livingston: Did you e
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C H A P T E R 32 Ron Gruner Cofound
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Ron Gruner 429 Gruner: They said
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Ron Gruner 431 board was saying,
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Ron Gruner 433 to investors. We had
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Ron Gruner 435 Of course, we had so
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Ron Gruner 437 we were, and invited
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Livingston: Did you have any compet
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Ron Gruner 441 So we did that and e
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Ron Gruner 443 We realized that we
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Ron Gruner 445 Because de Castro wa
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C H A P T E R 33 Jessica Livingston
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Do you remember anyone else in that
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What happened after that first batc
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Jessica Livingston 453 Have you got
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456 Index arcade games, 32 Architex
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458 Index Database Backed Web Sites
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460 Index I IBM, 89, 93-94, 289 IBM
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462 Index Mundie, Craig, 428 Muxway
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464 Index scalability, 12 Schachter
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466 Index W WAIS (Wide Area Informa
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