I started my software company forty years ago with $2,000 and built it into a multi-billion-dollar value with no debt and no venture money. That's right: we never had any debt; we never had any venture money. Not many people have done that, but if I were to start all over today, I could do it again. I want to tell you how I did it, and how you can, too. I was a very unlikely entrepreneur. I went to college and graduated in mathematics. I never had a course in business, never had a course in economics. Nothing associated with business at all. Zero. Even though I never prepared myself to build a company, something in my blood always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to control my own life, to beat the odds, to be the go-to guy who figured things out — and make some money in the process. Everyone has innate gifts, aspects of their personality or unique thought processing. The trick is to recognize your own gift(s) and then hone and incorporate them into your regular dealings. It starts with intense self-awareness. It's never about what someone else could or should have done. It's always about you, the entrepreneur — the one in charge, the one who has to come up with the answers, the one who has to figure out what to do next. You're the one who needs to learn the lessons, so you can overcome your own weaknesses. When you do something about a weakness you have, all of a sudden you're stronger than anyone else. That's growth. A lot of lessons in this book are of value to people who aren't in business. They're of value to people in general. Somewhere in here are principles of negotiation. You negotiate all the time with everybody: with your wife, with your children. Negotiations occur regularly in everyday life. You might have goals that have nothing to do with business but that require perseverance and innovation. You need some good luck; you need the absence of bad luck. The analytical methodology can make things better. You went through an experience and
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