IBM

“There was one in particular called Prodigy that IBM and Sears and for a while, CBS, committed about a billion dollars to launch Prodigy.”

“We created something called Q-Link for Commodore. We created something called PC-Link for RadioShack. We created something called Promenade for IBM. We created something called Apple-Link for Apple.”

“Compaq sold about 53,000 computers. And that same year, IBM, they sold 750,000 computers.”

“Because this thing not only didn't run all the software, it didn't run any of the software.”

“They, you know, in February of 1984, IBM introduces their own portable into the market. Now, our order stopped because before it actually was introduced, they were showing it to dealers and customers, and they just stopped ordering ours.”

“No, they had no idea, and nor did they care. I mean, even after we began to sort of get some positive results and getting into stores, remember we were portable. They didn't have a portable. So, initially it was very easy for them to ignore us because we were …”

“The thing that took us from six hundred million in 86 to 1.2 billion in sales in 87, we came out with our own desktop, which was, ah, essentially three times faster than IBM's desktop for about the same price, and began to establish ourselves as not only the p…”

“IBM maybe underestimated us. They didn't really study what had made our product successful. They could have easily put us out of business if they had come out with a real comparable product.”

“We're going to keep building these things. We're going to store them and wait for the orders to come. If the orders never come, yeah, we're in deep trouble, but you know what? We're in deep trouble anyway if the orders don't come.”

“I asked a friend to put up 5000 dollars. He and his wife were involved in the creation of this new alternative school in Kennebunk called The School Around Us. We became good friends, and I told him of my idea, and, ah, he had some IBM stock and took it to the…”

“You know, this company IBM had a leadership of the part of the economy referred to as information technology, unlike any other company at any other time in history. They were by far the dominant company.”

“And so when you took apart this IBM PC, you That was selling for about 3000 dollars. As far as I could tell, it was about 600 dollars worth of parts.”

“So, you know, we introduced a 12 megahertz two 86 base computer and we sold it for 1995 dollars. So our computer was twice as fast and was half the price.”

“They could have easily put us out of business if they had come out with a real comparable product.”

“The thing that took us from six hundred million in 86 to 1.2 billion in sales in 87, we came out with our own desktop, which was, ah, essentially three times faster than IBM's desktop for about the same price and began to establish ourselves as not only the po…”

“Compaq sold about 53,000 computers. And that same year, IBM, they sold 750,000 computers.”

“They, you know, in February of 1984, IBM introduces their own portable into the market. Now, our order stopped because before it actually was introduced, they were showing it to dealers and customers, and they just stopped ordering ours.”

“28 pounds.”

“You know, we had reverse engineered the ROM following advice from top notch intellectual property lawyers. So we were very careful around that. Their product was not protected by patents in any other way.”

“One was IBM had their hands full just making enough PCs, and it feels like it was probably years. There were just not enough of them getting built. And they had no idea what printer any given small business or consumer was going to choose, and most of those pr…”

“IBM at the time had a six megahertz, two 86 computer that they sold for 3995 dollars. So, you know, we introduced a 12 megahertz two 86 base computer and we sold it for 1995 dollars. So our computer was twice as fast and was half the price.”

“When you took apart this IBM PC that was selling for about 3000 dollars, as far as I could tell, it was about 600 dollars worth of parts.”

“So at the time, you know, IBM was probably growing double digits every single year. And some of the businesses that I was looking at where, you know, probably going, growing double digits every month.”

“They were at the time, you know, our dad was one of the only black men in, in the group and our mom was one of the only women.”

“I only like to work on problems that I feel like I can uniquely solve. And if I feel like there's someone else who can also do it and do it just as well, like, I become very disengaged and very bored and uninterested in working on it”

“So I had 27,000 dollars in my IBM pension program that, you know, we could withdraw with a penalty because it was your retirement. But I was like, whatever, let's just withdraw this money. And so I gave myself like six months to make something happen.”

“The way that I soothe myself about knockoffs is that I remember this fact that, you know, Coke needed Pepsi. Xerox needed IBM. Beauty Blender needs knockoffs in order to prove why we are the category creator and the best.”

“My big mistake was not getting more and more involved with the PC back then, but I got a good education.”