1. Intro
1.1 More about my Failures than Success
1.2 Regression to Norm
1.2.1 Flight Instructor
1.2.1.1 First Solo Flight
1.2.1.1.1 Excellent
1.2.1.2 Second
1.2.1.2.1 Not so good
1.2.1.3 Third Time
1.2.1.3.1 You shout at them
1.2.2 My Businesses
1.2.3 Churchill
1.2.3.1 Failed at the Dardenelles
1.2.3.2 Second World War a success
1.2.3.3 Post War Election Failure
1.2.3.4 BUT is known for his success
1.3 My Credentials
1.3.1 Ran a big PC Business
1.3.2 Raised $400m in total
2. Timeline
2.1 1978
2.1.1 Royal Academy
2.1.1.1 Capability is on an Exponential Scale
2.1.1.2 It's a big difference between the top musicians and those just below
2.2 1980
2.2.1 Computing at University of Birmingham
2.2.2 4th Year Converting Live Music to a Score
2.2.3 Created Computer Graphics
2.3 1983
2.3.1 Formed benchMark Technologies
2.4 1988
2.4.1 Sold
2.4.1.1 $12m
2.4.1.2 DuPont
2.4.1.2.1 Learn't their excellent Ethics
2.4.1.2.2 They invested in 3D graphics
2.4.2 But
2.4.2.1 Only needed £84,000
2.4.2.2 Bought my Grand Piano
2.5 1994
2.5.1 Bought back
2.5.1.1 $1
2.5.1.1.1 5% of Profits
2.5.1.1.2 Limited to $ X
2.5.1.2 3DLabs
2.6 1995
2.6.1 Went public
2.7 1997
2.7.1 Market Capitalisation
2.7.1.1 $1Bilion
2.7.2 I stayed for my colleagues (friends)
2.8 1998
2.8.1 Faltered
2.8.2 Crash
2.9 2002
2.9.1 Exit
2.9.1.1 $170m
2.9.1.2 Sold to Creative Technology
2.10 2004
2.10.1 Back to Music
2.10.2 S O N G P H O N I C
2.10.2.1 No understanding
2.10.2.2 Declining market
2.10.2.3 Music Charity!
2.10.2.4 But wrote a film score
2.11 2010
2.11.1 Endeavors Technologies
3. Lessons for Businesses in Disruptive Technology
3.1 3D Graphics
3.1.1 Offer to join forces
3.1.1.1 Pixar
3.1.1.1.1 High End
3.1.1.2 Us
3.1.1.2.1 Low End
3.1.1.3 We declined!
3.1.2 Embracing Competition
3.1.2.1 s3
3.1.2.1.1 2D leaders
3.1.2.2 Co-Process 3D chip
3.1.2.3 Customers all came to us
3.1.3 New chip
3.1.3.1 Believed new CPUs would do more graphics
3.1.3.2 On Pentium
3.1.3.2.1 1/4 speed
3.1.3.2.2 Not fast enough
3.1.3.3 Emergency Chip
3.1.3.3.1 Bringing back processing
3.2 Customers must not dictate the future
3.2.1 The Markets Do
3.2.2 One customer is not the market
3.2.3 Hard Disc Manufacturers
3.2.3.1 Sold 5.25"
3.2.3.1.1 Improved them for customers
3.2.3.2 Developed 3.5"
3.2.3.3 But let others sell it!
3.3 Wrong Focus
3.3.1 Hi End
3.3.1.1 Us
3.3.1.2 Workstation
3.3.2 Mass Mkt
3.3.2.1 nVidia
3.3.2.2 Not as good but effective
3.4 They come in pairs
3.4.1 Gates and Allen
3.4.2 Hewlett Packard
3.4.3 John and Taupin
3.4.3.1 Elton John
3.4.3.2 Bernie Taupin
3.4.4 I was always successful when working with someone
3.5 Recruit on Traits
3.5.1 Not experience
3.5.1.1 Nothing happens
3.5.1.2 I made mistakes recruiting them
3.5.2 Character
3.5.2.1 Having a smoke with Heather
3.5.2.2 A highly qualified but sidelined engineer
3.5.2.3 The project will fail on this track but I can fix it
3.5.2.4 Made her VP Engineering
3.5.2.5 Excellent choice
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4. My Finest Hour
4.1 2001
4.1.1 Layoffs looming
4.1.1.1 Half of 350 employees
4.1.2 20% Pay Cut taken by Directors
4.1.3 You can to if you wish?
4.1.4 A 10-20% pay cut was volunteered
4.1.5 It saved the company
4.1.6 It's the people that matter
4.1.7 Shareholder
5. Questions
5.1 How do you test traits?
5.1.1 Innate
5.1.1.1 I know
5.1.1.2 Except Sales
5.1.2 I made a lawyer
5.1.2.1 My CFO
5.1.2.1.1 Then CEO
5.1.2.2 Back as my current C00
5.2 Nature of Pairing?
5.2.1 Technical (Me)
5.2.1.1 Order
5.2.2 Business (Partner)
5.2.2.1 Chaos
5.3 Is co-location a requirement?
5.3.1 Essential
5.3.2 Ambient Communication
5.3.3 3 storeys can divide people
5.3.4 One floor is best
5.4 What are you investing in now?
5.4.1 Cloud Computing
5.4.1.1 Investor
5.4.1.2 Chairman
5.4.1.3 CEO
5.5 How do you raise funds?
5.5.1 Europe
5.5.1.1 VCs no good
5.5.1.2 No understanding of Markets
5.5.1.3 Extortionate Terms
5.5.1.4 No synergy
5.5.1.5 They think "Tech Crunch" is a cereal
5.5.1.6 Engineering has no value
5.5.2 USA
5.5.2.1 3 week enquiry to offer
5.5.2.2 Common ground between parties
5.5.2.3 Focus on a few terms
5.5.2.4 No wasted time on irrelevancies
5.5.2.5 They know who Tim Berners Lee is
5.5.3 Always Trade Investors and Corporate Partners
5.6 What is the Difference between Entrepreneur VC and Traditional VC?
5.6.1 They have built and sold a successful business
5.6.2 For me it is giving back
5.7 What is your motivation now?
5.7.1 Making a difference
5.7.2 Seeing my product in the shops
5.7.3 The buzz
5.8 Do you need a good understanding of psychology?
5.8.1 Yes
5.8.1.1 Your own doubts
5.8.1.2 Regression to the norm
5.8.2 Daniel Kahneman
5.9 Are there cultural differences?
5.9.1 Japan
5.9.1.1 Nothing happened for 2 years
5.9.1.2 Reason: Not enough grey hair
5.9.1.3 Brought Tom along
5.9.1.4 3 months later first sale
5.9.1.5 Tom said nothing
5.9.2 USA
5.9.2.1 The most proscriptive society
5.9.2.2 You need to tell them what to do
5.9.2.3 Labelling for a presentation
5.9.2.3.1 Main Client
Machine
Display
5.9.2.3.2 Second Client
Display
5.9.2.3.3 Server
Display
5.9.2.3.4 Omitted the 2nd and 3rd Machines
5.9.2.3.5 Had to be told to label them
5.9.2.4 All those road signs
5.10 Will there be a New Silicon Valley in the East End?
5.10.1 A Free Trade Zone is essential
5.10.1.1 No Caucasians in California
5.10.2 Start up is easy in California
5.10.2.1 Business Plan
5.10.2.1.1 Needs property
5.10.2.2 Landlord
5.10.2.2.1 Needs 1% of profits
5.10.3 Meritocracy is essential
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