LIM, MARYLYN GRACE C.

OOA

            Alliant Computer System was founded by Ron Gruner, together with Craig Mundic and Rich McAndrew. This startup focuses on delivering high-end mainframes that could deliver more performance via parallel processing. Ron Gruner’s goal was to be able to build a machine that uses multiprocessing to achieve a better performance than the fastest single-CPU machines.

            The reason why Ron Gruner left Alliant Computer System was that he had an disagreement with some VCs. He’s having problem with because some VCs are quite impatient with a difficult situation. Because Ron Gruner was having a financial problem with the VCs and he didn’t like the strategy they have because he thinks that it was wrong, so he decided to leave the company. After a year, Alliant Computer System was bankrupt.

            After a few months, he started another startup which was Shareholder.com. He became the sole founder of the company. But before he started this startup, he had 4 criteria in mind of what type of business he wanted to establish in the future. First, he wanted to build a business that has a recurring revenue stream. Second, he wanted to have no more than 2% of the total involvement consumed by the administrative overhead. Third, he wanted the company to be capable of being bootstrapped from a small amount of capital. Lastly, he wanted the company to be solely owned by him so as not to give up the power control if there would by another VC argument.

            One of the biggest problems he encountered in shareholder.com was about the wrong hotline number that was given to a very large pharmaceutical company. If they didn’t solve this problem fast, it would create a big mess and it might be the cause of the destruction of the company. So Ron Gruner hired a private investigator to search for the owner of the number 800. Once he found out who that was, Ron Gruner immediately called that person and told him the situation. Ron Gruner offered an exchange with him. He said that he would do anything just to acquire that number from that person. And that person agreed with the agreement. So Ron Gruner’s problem was solved and that was a close one.

            After 14 years of hardship, unlike the first startup which was Alliant Computer System that went bankruptcy after 10 years, shareholder.com is still alive and kicking, shareholder.com grew steadily and they were acquired by NASDAQ in February 2006.

            This startup taught me about persistence, that we should be brave and continue to follow our dreams even if there are so many things that are blocking our way. These things are just obstacles that would test whether we really deserve to be successful in the future.

            All in all Founders at Work taught me to have determination, perseverance and that we should be adaptable to all changes that might happen in the future. This also taught me that nothing goes according to plan that your plans might change in the middle of the process. Lastly, this book taught me that starting a startup is all about trial and error, that you can’t be successful if you don’t try new things and have a somewhat bad experience from it.