1/ The birth of a commercial Internet in 1993,coincided with the start of what I call my "miracle year." In his new book Tom Alberg tells the story of Jeff Bezos convincing him to invest in the Amazon seed round. It's a great story. I was in the building. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B095DX…
2/ When Bezos first met with Alberg McCaw Cellular's sale to AT&T was in process. Tom's office was upstairs and I was on the first floor. Tom was on the board of our startup at the time. When Jeff and Tom met them second time we were both in a new building where Craig had moved.
3/ Tom Alberg tells the story of Jeff Bezos working hard to raise Amazon's $1M seed round at a level of detail I've never seen or heard before. Tom describes Jeff's projections and his rationale for investing. I love great stories, but this one is special.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-on-…
4/ The best stories include you as a character. It is suboptimal to rely on chance to create stories that involve you. In 1993 co-founding an Internet based startup was obviously going to create stories worth telling. Make the choice to be traveler rather than a passive tourist.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Tren Griffin

Tren Griffin Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @trengriffin

5 Nov
1/ "When Motorola visited us, prepared to make a presentation with an elaborate slide show, Craig McCAw said, “Put away the slides and just discuss your proposal,” completely unsettling them and, not incidentally, seizing the upper hand."

That's Craig!
amazon.com/Flywheels-Citi…
2/ "After a meeting at AT&T’s Bell Labs in New Jersey, Craig McCaw led us on an unplanned tour around the building, barging into laboratories and asking scientists to explain the projects they were working on. AT&T executives trailed behind, not knowing what to do."

Classic! Image
3/ "Craig had an irreverent management style. At banquets, he was prone to lobbing dinner rolls. In the office, he might suddenly launch a squirt-gun attack. Many of us kept our own, loaded and ready behind our desks to fight back."

True! Also: Nerf gun attacks/counterattacks. Image
Read 10 tweets
1 Nov
The future is a probability distribution.

The global chip supply set of issues is multiple complex adaptive systems interacting (AKA a lollapalooza). Solutions for some firms include product redesign.

Experts who predict a specific date aren't experts. wsj.com/articles/globa…
"As of October, times for chip deliveries have ballooned to 22 weeks. It is longer for the scarcest parts: 25 weeks for power-management components and 38 weeks for the microcontrollers the auto industry needs."

Both uncertainty and unknown unknowns are present. Complexity.
"Some buyers trying to place new orders are getting delivery dates in 2024... The smartphone industry will grow by just 6% year-over-year, or half the initial forecast from earlier this year, because of chip woes, according to Counterpoint Research."

Complexity is increasing.
Read 5 tweets
31 Oct
1/ "In the second quarter, McDonald's said its prices were up by 6% compared to 2020. In the latest earnings call, executives confirmed they anticipate the increase to stay at that level for the rest of the year." eatthis.com/news-mcdonalds…
2/"Employee wages at McDonald's have been steadily increasing this year, with a total increase of about 10% so far in 2021. At company-owned stores, wages are up a 15%."

amp.ft.com/content/b53a99…
3/ "Costco has raised its minimum U.S. wage to $17 an hour, and Starbucks will raise its starting pay to $15 an hour. As of August, retailers had 1.2 million unfilled jobs, while restaurants and hotels had 1.5 million." npr.org/2021/10/28/104…
Read 4 tweets
30 Oct
Someone asked me a history question about Microsoft tonight and I dug out this paper fact sheet from my files to give them an answer.

My first conversation with Bill about Microsoft was in the summer of 1980.

Microsoft sales in 1980 were $8 million. 40 employees at year end. Image
Can you name everyone in this picture? What date was it taken? Image
Answer: BOOP (Bill and the Office of the President) Frank Gaudette is next to Mike Maples. 1992.…rdcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/p/018-microsof…
Read 4 tweets
26 Oct
What business is this? Image
Clue: Image
Another clue: Image
Read 4 tweets
24 Oct
1/ This acquisition worked out pretty good.

"Microsoft, moving to solidify its dominant position in the market for software for the popular Apple Macintosh personal computer, on Thursday acquired Forethought Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., for $14 Milton." latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
2/ JULY 31, 1987: "Microsoft has been especially successful at penetrating the Macintosh market where, according to the research firm InfoCorp, Microsoft publishes the three top-selling business programs."

blog.zamzar.com/2016/06/10/dea…
3/ "Microsoft is the company that made the first commitment to the Mac.  It has invested the most in the Mac. Our Mac products do super well.” MacWeek, January 31, 1994

“Macintosh has a bright future.”
Letter to Spindler,  April, 1995

Bill Gates
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(