Compaq co-founder Rod Canion reflects on the founders' initial modest goals and expectations when launching the PC company in 1982.
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“You know, it never crossed my mind that we wouldn't succeed, and as I look back now, I think, wow, that was such a long shot. You know, our expectations were very low. What did succeed mean? It didn't mean become the industry leader. It didn't even mean become one of the leading companies. It meant build a company that doesn't go out of business, that has a product, That solves a real need, and, ah, you don't lose money on it.”
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More from Rod Canion
Insight
Canion: Founding a company gives no inherent right to run it
“And just because you started the company doesn't give you any right to continue to run the company. You know, it needs to be run by somebody that can make good decisions and can manage that complex an operation.”
Rod CanionMar 25, 2019▶ 29:48Compaq Computers: Rod Canion (2019)
Disclosure
Compaq stockpiled inventory instead of doing layoffs when IBM attacked
“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.”
Rod CanionMay 22, 2017▶ 17:46Compaq Computers: Rod Canion
Insight
Canion: Founding a company gives no right to keep running it
“And just because you started the company doesn't give you any right to continue to run the company. You know, it needs to be run by somebody that can make good decisions and can manage that complex and operation”
Rod CanionMay 22, 2017▶ 29:25Compaq Computers: Rod Canion
What-if
Canion says Compaq would never have sold to HP under his leadership
“The leaders of those companies maintained enough control to make sure that it never got into the hands of somebody that looked at it just purely from a financial standpoint. If I had been there, if I had been leading the company, we would never have sold. We w…”
Rod CanionMay 22, 2017▶ 32:08Compaq Computers: Rod Canion
Insight
Canion now attributes 90% of Compaq's massive success to pure luck
“If you had asked me that in the eighties, let's say the late eighties, I would probably have said it was 90% intelligence and insight and work and 10% luck. But to tell you how perspective changes with time, I would say today it was the other way around.”
Rod CanionMay 22, 2017▶ 32:43Compaq Computers: Rod Canion
AssertionSupported
Canion: Compaq legally reverse-engineered IBM's ROM without infringing patents
“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.”
Rod CanionMar 25, 2019▶ 13:13Compaq Computers: Rod Canion (2019)
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