Pretend, just for a moment, that the year is 1978. "Shadow Dancing" is playing on your eight-track player as you sort through today's mail. Because you're a wealthy investor (OK, now we're really pretending), you receive word of many business opportunities. Still, this letter is a little different. As you dump its contents onto your avocado-colored kitchen table, a blurry photograph flutters and lands atop your bulky HP 01 wrist calculator.
Would you trust them with your money?
If you said "no", you can comfort yourself with knowing that hindsight is 20/20 vision. This picture from 1978 shows the following people:
Starting from the top, left: Steve Wood, Bob Wallace & Jim Lane
Next row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenburg, Marc McDonald & Gordon Letwin
Next row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood & Paul Allen
IBM had its phalanx of clean-cut executives in crisp, white shirts, but Microsoft 's groovy founders would have their day in the sun.
Resources:
http://www.thocp.net/companies/microsoft/microsoft_company.htm
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3209.html
http://www.educalc.net/885488.page
Would You Trust Them With Your Money?
Re: Would You Trust Them With Your Money?
