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Exploring Solution Spaces, Keith Ray's blog on Software development and other topics.
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2005.Dec.17 Sat
On Looking for the Next Microsoft
A good tidbit a long piece by Paul Graham.
... When we were making the rounds of venture capital firms in the 1990s, several told us that software companies didn't win by writing great software, but through brand, and dominating channels, and doing the right deals.
They really seemed to believe this, and I think I know why. I think what a lot of VCs are looking for, at least unconsciously, is the next Microsoft. And of course if Microsoft is your model, you shouldn't be looking for companies that hope to win by writing great software. But VCs are mistaken to look for the next Microsoft, because no startup can be the next Microsoft unless some other company is prepared to bend over at just the right moment and be the next IBM.
It's a mistake to use Microsoft as a model, because their whole culture derives from that one lucky break....