The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 18 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Oracle Slashed Its Global Product Pricing Staff From 200 to Under 10
“We had about 200 people around the world involved in analyzing and reanalyzing, setting and resetting prices. It costs us a fortune in duplication of effort. We were competing against ourselves. It was embarrassing. Now we have less than 10 people working on p…”
Larry Ellison Commanded Recruiters to Hire the Cockiest College Graduates
“Ellison insisted that his recruiters hire only the finest and cockiest new college graduates.
When they were recruiting from universities, they'd ask people, are you the smartest person you know?
And if they said yes, they would hire them.
If they said no, …”
Oracle hired university graduates who claimed to be the smartest they knew
“When they were recruiting from universities, they'd ask people, are you the smartest person you know? And if they said yes, they would hire them. If they said no, they would say who is, and they would go hire that guy instead.”
Renaming Network Computing to Internet Computing Caused Oracle Sales to Surge
“Network computing architecture got absolutely no traction in the marketplace. So we announced a successor called internet computing architecture and sales took off. The big difference between the two, the name.”
Early Oracle Sales Relied on Destructive End-of-Quarter Discounting
“One of the oldest and worst habits of the Oracle sales organization was the use of aggressive discounting to get existing customers to buy software before they actually needed it.”
Ellison Abandoned Client-Server to Focus Entirely on Internet Computing
“Ellison's decision to the horror of many colleagues and customers to abandon all further development of client server based applications and concentrate Oracle's entire engineering effort on building for the new computing architecture of the internet.”
Early Oracle Won Deals Across Major US Intelligence Agencies
“We had won several deals, the CIA, Navy intelligence, air force intelligence, and the NSA.”
Oracle recruited college grads by asking if they were the smartest person they knew
“Ellison insisted that his recruiters hire only the finest and cockiest new college graduates. When they were recruiting from universities, they'd ask people, are you the smartest person you know? And if they said yes, they would hire them. If they said no, the…”
Ellison Was Embarrassed by His Performance as Early Oracle CEO
“A huge chunk of this book is Ellison being embarrassed by his performance as CEO of his own company for the first decade and a half of its existence.”
Tech Press Originally Claimed Relational Databases Would Never Be Useful
“The technical press at the time was saying that the relational database would never be useful.”
Ellison Faced Margin Calls After Borrowing Heavily Against Oracle Shares
“He had borrowed heavily against his shares, That had now slumped to a point where he faced the equivalent of a margin call from his creditors.”
Oracle Created Phantom Revenue by Booking Multi-Year Software Contracts Upfront
“The sales teams would often book multi-year contracts upfront. They would recognize the revenue immediately for software that wouldn't be delivered or paid for months or years. And in many cases, never paid for it. So this is, this led to what they call phanto…”
Oracle Previously Operated 70 Separate HR Databases to Track Employee Headcount
“Oracle had 70 separate HR systems, each with its own database. To find out how many people worked at Oracle, you had to look into 70 separate databases.”
Ellison's Original Goal for Oracle Was $10M Revenue and 50 Employees
“My original goal was to build a company doing about 10, ten million dollars a year in revenue and employing about 50 people.”
Don Lucas Arranged a Loan for Oracle After Ellison Refused Equity
“Even though he wouldn't, Larry wouldn't sell him equity, he actually helps arrange a loan for Larry Ellison and the company.”
Oracle Named Its First Database Release Version 2 to Project Maturity
“The first version of our database was called Oracle version two.”
Ellison Secured an $80M Loan from Nippon Steel to Avoid Dilution
“Instead of surrendering equity in Oracle to pay off the banks, Ellison has secured a deal that gave him an eighty million dollar loan on highly favorable terms. He does this by going to Japan, which their economy was doing great at the time. So in exchange for…”