Interlude - Index of

Chapter Zero | 3
more details in “Interlude: What NetApp Does” after Chapter
One. There’s also a glossary for when I do use jargon.)
I care more about themes and lessons than about chronology,
but stories lose their meaning without a sense of time, so I
divided the book into three parts: NetApp’s childhood, adolescence,
and adulthood. Childhood is about getting started, raising
money, venture capitalists, and so on—plus one chapter
on my own beginnings. Adolescence, in NetApp’s case, was a
time of rapid growth in the dot-com boom, and then a sudden,
painful end to rapid growth. Adulthood is about becoming a
grown-up company, selling largely to other grown-up companies.
The bull of the title is a metaphor for risk. In some ways,
the first part is about risk, the second about growth, and the
third about success, but in fact, all three themes run through
all three parts, especially risk.
This is my personal journey as well. In Part One, I am a
programmer, spokesman, and company gadfly. In Part Two, I
am a vice president with a $100 million budget and a staff of
hundreds. In Part Three, I have no direct reports but influence
NetApp’s strategic direction by trying to predict the future.
There is more than one way to tell a story; however, this
book is the best way I know to relate not just what I’ve learned
but—more important—how I learned it. Let’s start with my
first business lesson ever:
Don’t listen to my mother.