Founders at Work.pdf

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Philip Greenspun 343 The programmers were all pretty junior and said, “It’s the customer’s fault because they keep asking for these features and saying the site can’t launch unless we have all these complicated features. They keep coming up with new ones because they see other people’s sites.” I replied, “You guys are engineers, and you have to explain to the customer that there’s a lot of learning that happens only once the site is launched. And you have to get them to accept some kind of minimum launchable feature set. You don’t need 100 user question-and-answer forums on sites that are brand new. There are only 15 users. How would they find each other if they’re fragmented into 15 forums?” I said, “You can’t blame the customer. You have to work with them to come up with the minimum launchable feature set, and get the site launched. You guys need it for your résumés; you want to be able to say that you worked on a project that succeeded and here’s the site and anybody can look at it, not that you got a paycheck and accomplished nothing and that you worked for a stupid customer and it’s all their fault.” I brought the customer in on the same day, and we talked to them and found out that, well, they didn’t need the last features if it meant that their site wasn’t going to launch. They hadn’t understood the tradeoffs. A couple weeks later they launched. Livingston: Was there anything that you think people misunderstood about the demise of ArsDigita? Greenspun: I haven’t written that much. I’d like to write some reusable lessons. We have some uniquely clever things that we did, like making websites that were multilingual. Just engineering stuff. I just haven’t had the time or the energy for some reason. People focus a lot on the bust-up phase. It upsets me that they remember the wrong things like, “This Greenspun guy sued the venture capitalists.” This is not true, first of all, since I was a defendant, not a plaintiff. It really upsets me that people think of ArsDigita as a venture capital–backed company. It wasn’t. It was a company that I started and backed financially, basically by myself, but within a year or two brought in some other smart, good people. It upsets me that they think of ArsDigita as a company that the VCs somehow played a big role in starting; that I sued them and somehow got money trickily. That bothers me. I financed the thing. I put in money and years of labor, and right at the tail end—they were only in there for about 18 months from the time they invested to the time it went bust, and at that time the company was more than 5 years old. So it was not a VC-backed company; it was a company that took VC money just in an attempt to shortcut the underwriting process in going public. I did not make money through litigation. I bought some shares, took a risk, sold them in the end at a much lower return than I would have if I’d never taken the VC money in the first place. I could have just taken profits out of the company on a year-to-year basis. Just take dividends, instead of giving such
344 Founders at Work large bonuses to the employees—some combination of slightly lower bonuses and slightly less retained earnings in the company. So it was a simple story of investing and then selling shares. The litigation was a sideshow. In the end, they bought me out the same as if they hadn’t sued. They just thought, “Well, maybe we can steal control of the company instead of having to buy it,” and, when that didn’t work, they bought it just like any reasonable person would have expected to.
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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
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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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Page 302 and 303: 294 Founders at Work Livingston: PA
Page 304 and 305: 296 Founders at Work you hope they
Page 306 and 307: 298 Founders at Work major. So I wa
Page 308 and 309: 300 Founders at Work We see a lot o
Page 310 and 311: 302 Founders at Work I think this i
Page 312 and 313: 304 Founders at Work plywood, but l
Page 314 and 315: 306 Founders at Work Winblad: Oh ye
Page 316 and 317: David Heinemeier Hansson Partner, 3
Page 318 and 319: were giving it a third of their tim
Page 320 and 321: David Heinemeier Hansson 313 One of
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Page 324 and 325: C H A P T E R 24 Philip Greenspun C
Page 326 and 327: Philip Greenspun 319 manage, and I
Page 328 and 329: Philip Greenspun 321 We pushed the
Page 330 and 331: Philip Greenspun 323 let you do the
Page 332 and 333: Philip Greenspun 325 Airplane mecha
Page 334 and 335: Philip Greenspun 327 Greenspun: Yea
Page 336 and 337: Philip Greenspun 329 But due to a c
Page 338 and 339: Philip Greenspun 331 bad company, a
Page 340 and 341: Philip Greenspun 333 That was an ep
Page 342 and 343: Philip Greenspun 335 for two board
Page 344 and 345: Philip Greenspun 337 the fact that
Page 346 and 347: Philip Greenspun 339 paid my monthl
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Page 352 and 353: C H A P T E R 25 Joel Spolsky Cofou
Page 354 and 355: Joel Spolsky 347 The consulting mar
Page 356 and 357: Joel Spolsky 349 Although it was my
Page 358 and 359: Joel Spolsky 351 Things that to us
Page 360 and 361: Joel Spolsky 353 I later talked to
Page 362 and 363: Joel Spolsky 355 had an idea of som
Page 364 and 365: Joel Spolsky 357 on my team who dec
Page 366 and 367: Joel Spolsky 359 For example, Ruby
Page 368 and 369: C H A P T E R 26 Stephen Kaufer Cof
Page 370 and 371: Stephen Kaufer 363 Kaufer: We tried
Page 372 and 373: Stephen Kaufer 365 a typical dot-co
Page 374 and 375: Stephen Kaufer 367 Livingston: Did
Page 376 and 377: Stephen Kaufer 369 from being succe
Page 378 and 379: Stephen Kaufer 371 we’re going to
Page 380 and 381: Stephen Kaufer 373 It’s perfectly
Page 382 and 383: Stephen Kaufer 375 Kaufer: I couldn
Page 384 and 385: 378 Founders at Work Hong: Jim was
Page 386 and 387: 380 Founders at Work But the Salon.
Page 388 and 389: 382 Founders at Work and we would h
Page 390 and 391: 384 Founders at Work Hong: I think
Page 392 and 393: C H A P T E R 28 James Currier Foun
Page 394 and 395: James Currier 389 results. It was j
Page 396 and 397: James Currier 391 Currier: You migh
Page 398 and 399: 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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