Founders at Work.pdf

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Jessica Livingston 453 Have you gotten better at recognizing which founders are likely to succeed? Livingston: I really hope so. That’s the whole goal, right, for Y Combinator to get better at picking successful startups. But let me tell you, it’s really hard to judge at the stage we are investing at. Ground zero. We have learned that determination matters a lot more than founders’ resumes or where they went to college. I’d say that determination is the most important quality in a startup founder, because we’ve seen so many of the startups hit difficult times, and some of them quit and some of them don’t. It’s hard to keep going. If they’ve built something really cool before, that’s usually a good sign—that they can actually build and launch something. You’ve watched over 100 startups now. How do you make a successful startup? If you had to tell would-be startup founders in a few words, what’s the secret? Livingston: Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s one answer. It depends on so many things. Some are under your control and some aren’t. But as I said before, determination is most important. You have to be able to endure all of the bad things that are going to happen to your company—times when you think you are just dead, but you have to find the will to keep on going. Choose a cofounder that you have a good relationship with, where there’s a lot of trust between you. One of the biggest reasons for failures in startups we’ve funded are blowups between founders in the first 6 months. I see that and it’s painful to watch. Unless you have revenues after 3 months or have a lot of personal savings, you’ve got to be able to get more funding. So you have to have a good idea with a large addressable market. What are your plans for Y Combinator in the future? Livingston: We’re always changing things, so it’s hard to say what will happen in the future. I definitely want to keep doing it. For me it’s a dream job. We’ve helped a lot of people start startups and I think they are happier and more fulfilled because of it. I want to keep having an impact like that. What started off as about 20 founders has now grown into an alumni network of more than 250 people. It’s an amazing community. The founders all help each other out. They have the same problems and deal with the same investors and it’s nice to have people to ask for advice. We’ll keep trying new things. We’re always experimenting and trying to come up with new ways to scale. Y Combinator feels like a startup in that sense.
Index Numbers and symbols 1984 recession, 144 37signals, 309–316 5K contest, 258 A Accel Partners, 101–102, 108 Accidental Empires, 64 Acorn, Al, 44 acquisition offers, 137, 215, 217–218 Adams, Tracy, 326 Adobe Acrobat, 293 Adobe Illustrator, 287 Adobe Systems, 281–296 Adobe Type Manager (ATM), 292 AdSense, 161–163, 171 advertising, 130, 131, 311. See also click-through; targeted advertising affirmative action, 298 aggregators. See desktop-based aggregators @Home, 61 Alexa Internet, 274–277 Allen, Paul, 182, 198 Alliant Computer Systems, 427–446 Alsop, Stewart, 194 Altair computer, 33–34 Altman, Sam, 449 Amazon, 277 Anderson, Eve, 326 Andreessen, Mark, 134 angel investors, 209, 213–216, 260, 447 Anybot, 451 AOL, 132 Apple Computer, 31–58, 173, 186, 267, 268, 281, 285–286 Apple I, 38–42, 44–45 Apple II, 31, 42–43, 49, 50, 78, 89, 94, 185 Apple II user group, 89 Apple III, 51 455
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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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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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400 Founders at Work Livingston: So
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Page 408 and 409: 404 Founders at Work Livingston: Is
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Page 422 and 423: C H A P T E R 31 Bob Davis Founder,
Page 424 and 425: Bob Davis 421 Livingston: Was this
Page 426 and 427: Bob Davis 423 that way. So we weren
Page 428 and 429: Bob Davis 425 Livingston: Did you e
Page 430 and 431: C H A P T E R 32 Ron Gruner Cofound
Page 432 and 433: Ron Gruner 429 Gruner: They said
Page 434 and 435: Ron Gruner 431 board was saying,
Page 436 and 437: Ron Gruner 433 to investors. We had
Page 438 and 439: Ron Gruner 435 Of course, we had so
Page 440 and 441: Ron Gruner 437 we were, and invited
Page 442 and 443: Livingston: Did you have any compet
Page 444 and 445: Ron Gruner 441 So we did that and e
Page 446 and 447: Ron Gruner 443 We realized that we
Page 448 and 449: Ron Gruner 445 Because de Castro wa
Page 450 and 451: C H A P T E R 33 Jessica Livingston
Page 452 and 453: Do you remember anyone else in that
Page 454 and 455: What happened after that first batc
Page 458 and 459: 456 Index arcade games, 32 Architex
Page 460 and 461: 458 Index Database Backed Web Sites
Page 462 and 463: 460 Index I IBM, 89, 93-94, 289 IBM
Page 464 and 465: 462 Index Mundie, Craig, 428 Muxway
Page 466 and 467: 464 Index scalability, 12 Schachter
Page 468: 466 Index W WAIS (Wide Area Informa
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