Founders at Work.pdf

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Mark Fletcher 245 next morning, too, and how dare I not answer every single email? That was crazy. I remember my birthday that year. I got a phone call because the phone number registered in the ONElist domain was the second line in my townhouse, and there was an answering machine on it. I remember getting woken up on my birthday that year by some guy saying, “I don’t know if you know this, but your site is down.” So I logged in, and our whole database machine had died, in Virginia. We were Digital Nation’s biggest customer and they didn’t really have much experience with these database machines we were using, so they were trying to figure out what was wrong. I had to call in sick from work. It was very stressful. We had scaling issues all summer; we had to turn off new user registrations for 3 months because we couldn’t handle the influx of people coming in—which is crazy, you’re not supposed to do that. Livingston: Would you recommend starting a startup on the side while you are still employed? Fletcher: It worked out for me. Sometimes that’s the only way you can do it. It certainly is one way of mitigating the risk significantly, because if you do it on the side and it doesn’t work out, you still have a job. Of course, you absolutely have to pay attention to the employment issues. You can’t work on your startup at work. Depending on your employment contract, they may own stuff that you do on the side, too. You have to be very cognizant of that. Livingston: I hadn’t realized that you did it on the side. Fletcher: By the end of the first year, there were five of us, and we were all working, just nights and weekends. Livingston: What was the tipping point to make you resign to work full-time on ONElist? Fletcher: We got funding. We had signed the term sheet for the $4 million in our series A, and at that point we were like, “Time to quit.” Livingston: Was there any time with your startups when you felt like giving up? Fletcher: Not with Bloglines, but certainly the first year with ONElist. A lot. Especially with all the emails every night, with working a full-time job, with the incredible amount of stress. My family was great. I just remember them encouraging me to stick with it. I probably never would have forgiven myself had I quit, too. There are always dark times with startups, always. I was in a startup in San Diego where we didn’t get paid for 3 months. There are different types of dark times, but for some there is just no more fun than doing a startup. Livingston: Did you ever experience some sort of malaise like, “This isn’t going anywhere, I just can’t work on it anymore”? Fletcher: Yeah. Somebody asked me what was my greatest strength and my greatest weakness, and I think it’s the same thing. I get easily bored. I think I’m able to focus on one thing, but I burn out easily. I’m still not good at the whole work/life balance thing, and with a startup it’s very easy to skew that in only one
246 Founders at Work direction. Sometimes you have to do that, but you absolutely get burned out. So I was burned out after eGroups; I was burned out definitely to a degree with Bloglines. So now I’m taking a little time off. I’ll do some skiing, and then I’ll start something else. Mark Fletcher and Scott Shambarger at the celebration of Yahoo’s acquisition of ONElist. The two had a bet that if they ever sold the company for more than $5 million, they’d shave their heads.
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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
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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
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 230 and 231: Paul Graham 221 between 1995 and 19
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 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
Page 280 and 281: 272 Founders at Work Livingston: So
Page 282 and 283: 274 Founders at Work Another, I tho
Page 284 and 285: 276 Founders at Work and you might
Page 286 and 287: 278 Founders at Work Kahle: I’ve
Page 288 and 289: 280 Founders at Work AOL took our i
Page 290 and 291: 282 Founders at Work them as possib
Page 292 and 293: 284 Founders at Work We said, “Fi
Page 294 and 295: 286 Founders at Work which quintupl
Page 296 and 297: 288 Founders at Work point sizes an
Page 298 and 299: 290 Founders at Work But there was
Page 300 and 301: 292 Founders at Work announced that
Page 302 and 303: 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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400 Founders at Work Livingston: So
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402 Founders at Work Livingston: So
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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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