Founders at Work.pdf

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Steve Wozniak 59 Steve Jobs (left) and Steve Wozniak (right) in 1975 with a blue box Photo by Margret Wozniak
C H A P T E R 4 Joe Kraus Cofounder, Excite Joe Kraus started Excite (originally called Architext) in 1993 with five Stanford classmates. Though they began by developing technology for information search and retrieval, their decision to go into web search ultimately made their site the fourth most popular site on the Web in the late 1990s. Excite got venture capital funding in 1994 and launched its web search engine into a market crowded with competitors. Excite went public in 1996 and in 1999 merged with high-speed Internet service @Home.com to become Excite@Home. In 2004, Kraus and Graham Spencer founded JotSpot, an application wiki company. Livingston: How did Excite get started? Kraus: We decided to start a company together before we had any idea what we were going to work on. But we were so committed to the idea of starting something together that we knew we were going to figure it out. For me, that idea came from a formative experience after freshman year of college. As soon as I had arrived home to Los Angeles from Stanford, my parents said, “Good news”—and that usually meant something bad—“We went to your high school fundraiser last night and we bought you a summer job.” And I thought, “Oh, that’s terrible news.” I had thought I would pump yogurt or bag groceries and then I could surf and hang out with friends, which was really what I wanted to do. I said, “Well, where is this job and what is it?” They said it was at an architectural engineering firm. I thought, “Well, that sounds kind of interesting. I don’t know what that is, but OK.” So I show up for work on my first day and the job is to duplicate microfiche with three 70-year-old women. For a 19-year-old guy, this is hell. You had to expose the microfiche to ultraviolet light and then run it through this developer, which had this ammonia smell. It was really bad. I did that for 3 weeks and I quit and bagged groceries. I kind of determined from that point 61
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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
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
Page 62 and 63: Livingston: What about Ron Wayne? W
Page 64 and 65: Steve Wozniak 49 We got the compute
Page 66 and 67: Steve Wozniak 51 anyone could look
Page 68 and 69: Steve Wozniak 53 thought, “That c
Page 70 and 71: Steve Wozniak 55 data and I said
Page 72 and 73: Livingston: On the East Coast? Stev
Page 76 and 77: 62 Founders at Work forward that my
Page 78 and 79: 64 Founders at Work We bought two S
Page 80 and 81: 66 Founders at Work Kraus: They adj
Page 82 and 83: 68 Founders at Work Kraus: First, b
Page 84 and 85: 70 Founders at Work unannounced.”
Page 86 and 87: C H A P T E R 5 Dan Bricklin Cofoun
Page 88 and 89: Dan Bricklin 75 Bob already had equ
Page 90 and 91: Dan Bricklin 77 actually felt good
Page 92 and 93: Livingston: Did it drive sales for
Page 94 and 95: Dan Bricklin 81 and how wide are th
Page 96 and 97: Dan Bricklin 83 Bricklin: We worked
Page 98 and 99: Dan Bricklin 85 available, with any
Page 100 and 101: Dan Bricklin 87 Bricklin: Oh, we ha
Page 102 and 103: C H A P T E R 6 Mitchell Kapor Cofo
Page 104 and 105: Mitchell Kapor 91 that I needed to
Page 106 and 107: Mitchell Kapor 93 The non-compete w
Page 108 and 109: Mitchell Kapor 95 second-generation
Page 110 and 111: Mitchell Kapor 97 I did not set out
Page 112 and 113: Mitchell Kapor 99 transitioning out
Page 114 and 115: Livingston: You weren’t bluffing?
Page 116 and 117: C H A P T E R 7 Ray Ozzie Founder,
Page 118 and 119: Ray Ozzie 105 to work in a highly m
Page 120 and 121: Ray Ozzie 107 You cannot early-bind
Page 122 and 123: 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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