Founders at Work.pdf

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Paul Graham 221 between 1995 and 1998, because at that point, I was on Mars. I was not part of the ordinary world of humans. I was sitting glued to a computer all day long, or asleep. Livingston: What did you worry about the most? Graham: Running out of money. That was the big worry. Running out of money and having to go and get more funding. Getting funding is very painful. It’s so much harder than actually making a successful company. Livingston: What advice can you give about raising money? Graham: The advice I would give is to avoid it. I would say spend as little as you can, because every dollar of the investors’ money you get will be taken out of your ass—literally in the sense that it will take stock away from you, but also the process of raising money is so horrible compared to the other aspects of business. You can’t work your way out of it like you can with other problems. You’re at other people’s mercy. The way not to have to raise money is not to spend money. Do everything as cheaply as you possibly can. What you want in a startup is this feeling of cheap and hip. Not miserly cheap, but cool, bohemian cheap. That’s what we strove for. Livingston: So investors were your biggest worry? Graham: Probably, but I worried about all the different things that could kill us and all the different ways they could kill us. People start startups to get rich, but what keeps them going day to day is the fear of failure. You’ve said, “OK, I’m starting this startup and I’m going to get all the users and be successful,” and once you’ve told everybody that’s what you’re doing, if you fail you’ll look like a fool. So when we did sell the thing finally to Yahoo, in the eyes of the world, because we got bought, we were a success. Arguably we were already a success, since we had more online stores than anybody else. But getting bought kind of locked that in. At that point you would think someone would be thinking, “Wow, this is great. I’m rich. I can go buy everything I want.” But all I was thinking was, “Thank God we didn’t fail.” Livingston: You write a lot of essays with advice for startup founders. What is the most important piece of advice? Graham: What Y Combinator prints on our T-shirts: make something people want. If you make something users want, they will be happy, and you can translate that happiness into money. That is the basis of a startup. A startup is a company that builds some kind of technology that people want. The mistake that a lot of founders make is to build something they think users want, but that users don’t actually want. Livingston: Do you think having done a startup yourself makes you a better judge of startup founders now that you are an investor?
222 Founders at Work Graham: Oh yeah. In fact, I don’t know how people who haven’t done it can pick founders. How can they tell? I often see people who seem kind of clueless, and I can remember, “Yeah, we seemed clueless in exactly the same way.” So those are the guys we invest in. Trevor Blackwell, Paul Graham (standing), and Robert Morris in 1996
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FOUNDERS AT WORK STORIES OF STARTUP
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For Da and PG
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vi Contents CHAPTER 11 ARTHUR VAN H
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Foreword Sprinters apparently reach
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Preface It’s been more than a yea
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About the Author Jessica Livingston
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xvi Acknowledgments Steve Papa, Tom
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xviii Introduction In addition to h
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2 Founders at Work on the floor of
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4 Founders at Work By then we had b
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6 Founders at Work impressive than
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8 Founders at Work said, “Yes, it
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10 Founders at Work Livingston: Wer
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12 Founders at Work The default of
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14 Founders at Work Livingston: Did
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16 Founders at Work pack up and bei
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18 Founders at Work look at other t
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20 Founders at Work management expe
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22 Founders at Work Livingston: You
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24 Founders at Work And then of cou
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26 Founders at Work Livingston: The
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28 Founders at Work Livingston: Web
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C H A P T E R 3 Steve Wozniak Cofou
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Steve Wozniak 33 I couldn’t reall
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Steve Wozniak 35 The dynamic RAMs w
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Steve Wozniak 37 Livingston: Do you
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Steve Wozniak 39 Wozniak: I got thi
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Steve Wozniak 41 living and life an
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Steve Wozniak 43 Man, when I actual
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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
Page 180 and 181: 170 Founders at Work been there for
Page 182 and 183: 172 Founders at Work Livingston: Wh
Page 184 and 185: 174 Founders at Work the screen, im
Page 186 and 187: 176 Founders at Work I had figured
Page 188 and 189: 178 Founders at Work The other thin
Page 190 and 191: 180 Founders at Work Then we went t
Page 192 and 193: 182 Founders at Work Then we found
Page 194 and 195: 184 Founders at Work Perlman: I did
Page 196 and 197: 186 Founders at Work I was very imp
Page 198 and 199: 188 Founders at Work adopt other te
Page 200 and 201: 190 Founders at Work freedom. But t
Page 202 and 203: 192 Founders at Work HP and kind of
Page 204 and 205: 194 Founders at Work the model for
Page 206 and 207: 196 Founders at Work Ramsay: While
Page 208 and 209: 198 Founders at Work of information
Page 210 and 211: 200 Founders at Work I can’t tell
Page 212 and 213: 202 Founders at Work More recently,
Page 214 and 215: C H A P T E R 15 Paul Graham Cofoun
Page 216 and 217: Paul Graham 207 we didn’t want to
Page 218 and 219: Livingston: So what did happen? Pau
Page 220 and 221: Paul Graham 211 argument with “/e
Page 222 and 223: Paul Graham 213 right, that would h
Page 224 and 225: Paul Graham 215 Graham: We started
Page 226 and 227: Paul Graham 217 Livingston: So a fe
Page 228 and 229: Paul Graham 219 the truth. Our stra
Page 232 and 233: C H A P T E R 16 Joshua Schachter F
Page 234 and 235: Joshua Schachter 225 time, I did, b
Page 236 and 237: Joshua Schachter 227 But you need t
Page 238 and 239: Joshua Schachter 229 Schachter: I c
Page 240 and 241: Livingston: Who did you learn thing
Page 242 and 243: C H A P T E R 17 Mark Fletcher Foun
Page 244 and 245: Mark Fletcher 235 Livingston: Tell
Page 246 and 247: Mark Fletcher 237 initially. If you
Page 248 and 249: Livingston: You worked at Sun befor
Page 250 and 251: Mark Fletcher 241 Livingston: What
Page 252 and 253: Mark Fletcher 243 been 2 weeks sinc
Page 254 and 255: Mark Fletcher 245 next morning, too
Page 256 and 257: C H A P T E R 18 Craig Newmark Foun
Page 258 and 259: Craig Newmark 249 in the UNIX/Linux
Page 260 and 261: Craig Newmark 251 Livingston: Going
Page 262 and 263: Livingston: Did you work with them?
Page 264 and 265: Craig Newmark 255 Newmark: Yes. Liv
Page 266 and 267: 258 Founders at Work When we came u
Page 268 and 269: 260 Founders at Work wasn’t seen
Page 270 and 271: 262 Founders at Work near the embas
Page 272 and 273: 264 Founders at Work This happens t
Page 274 and 275: 266 Founders at Work Another lesson
Page 276 and 277: 268 Founders at Work them locally w
Page 278 and 279: 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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