Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure

Although they had just walked in, Gates immediately slouched in front of a new Macintosh that sat unattended on the receptionist’s desk, to see what software was loaded.

Well over a billion dollars had gone into developing this operating system, an investment that continues today with no realistic possibility of a return. The technique works well as long as enough money pours in to buoy up moribund projects. But by mid-1989, IBM was so laden with the walking dead that its highly profitable mainframe monopoly could

“That’s a post-money valuation of one hundred fifty to one hundred seventy-five million, depending on how much we raise.” I was worried that this price was unrealistic, and that the offering might not fly when it hit the street. “I just can’t see how our business plan supports that valuation,” I said. “It’s enough to make a sane investor toss his c

I could see that something had changed in him. He seemed less intense, more at peace with himself. “Where did you park the jet?” He sighed. “Sold it. I’m also selling our vacation house in Hawaii.” “Too bad, I never got to mooch a vacation there,” I said. “How come?” “We just decided to get our priorities straight. All this stuff—our material posse

Although it seemed impossible, the pace of activity at GO continued to increase. There were so many urgent matters demanding my attention that I took to staying at a nearby hotel, to save the few critical minutes spent commuting from the city. There was no such thing as a weekend off.

Sometimes I wasn’t sure what motivated John. It certainly wasn’t money. To most investors, the prospect of a quick sellout to IBM would be irresistible. But for John, investing in high technology was a calling, and monetary reward was the byproduct of a successful mission. The higher goal was to create something enduring, a growing enterprise that

For once Bill was the calmer one. “Actually, we’re better off now that we know what kind of partner IBM really is. If this happened once, it will happen again. We’ve got to close the AT&T deal right away.”

Almost like clockwork, every ten years since the beginning of the computer revolution, a new class of computers had unexpectedly emerged.

I got my best ideas in my sleep.