mark richer hi tech: a half-life 12-may-2006 mark richer hi tech: a half-life 12-may-2006
TRANSCRIPT
Mark Richer
Hi tech: A half-life
12-May-2006
Mark Richer
Hi tech: A half-life
12-May-2006
Oh dear…
“Nobody knows anything”
William Goldman
The numbers
26 years 1 misspent youth 1m air miles 3 startups founded 1 receivership 1 NASDAQ IPO 1 Cisco acquisition 0 days of work Care, but not too much
Overview
Cambridge 82-85— 24/20+— work somehow
Intelligent Software 85 Madge Networks 86-94 Calista 95-00 Codian 02->
Intelligent Software 85
6 months programming then… … a transit van at midnight Surprisingly, this was good
You can’t really tell if something is good or bad until much, much later. So chill.
Madge Networks 86-94
Token Ring LAN Adapters 5 people -> peak of 1,500 NASDAQ IPO in 1993 Only external financing 3Com in 89
Recruitment. Excellence. Patience.
Madge Networks aside #1
Early target was to clone IBM -> we supported IBM PC LAN -> first customer wanted NetWare… …and we were useless
Don’t argue with the customers.It is normally less work to just fix it.
Madge Networks aside #2
9900016-bit μP
MAC&
PHYLAN
128k DRAM
SystemInterface
PC
Calista 95-00
Interfacing to proprietary PBXs 12 people to 4.5 to 25 50/50 Partnership and not Market creation: good or bad?
Market creation – just say no
Calista aside
Voice mail interfaces 5/10 Telecommuting 3/10 or 10/10 Voice recording interfaces 9/10
Listen to the customers.
Codian 02-
Video Conferencing infrastructure 12 people to 60 $0m, $1m, $10m
No reruns.
Themes
UK ex-Cambridge R&D Global Sales Never be a UK/European company Start small, think big, believe Ownership No market creation Incremental development Incremental product lines
Recipe
1. Team
2. Product
3. Quick, cheap α/β
4. Try to sell
5. Listen. If near fix; goto 4 else goto 2
6. When saleable: recruit sales force, marketing, production etc
Thank you
Whatever you do…
shake the world a little and have fun
Thank YouThank You