10 years

From: Patrick Rigney <patrick_at_evocative.com>
Date: Sun Oct 6 20:37:01 2002

> So were you around to observe all the Microsoft trickery and shenanigans
> that led to them basically stealing PenPoint from under your noses?

Sellam, I never saw it that way. Microsoft has yet to produce anything
nearly as revolutionary as PenPoint. If they had the keys, they didn't use
them. Actually, Apple's Newton seemed to get more benefit from the demise
of Go than Microsoft... a lot of the really top-notch handwriting people
ended up going to work on the Newton.

Speaking of which... somebody must have a Newton??? And if it's you,
Sellam, then you need to give it up... both an Eo 440 and a Newton... that's
a lot of karma! :-)

> Jerry Kaplan's book _Startup_ was a great read. But from what I heard,
> the VCs basically considered Jerry a boob after the whole Go fiasco.

Jerry founded Onsale, and was pretty much on the cutting edge of web-based
auctioning. I think he's probably done well enough that he doesn't need to
worry about what VCs think, which is a healthy thing for an entrepreneur.
IMHO, the success of your business is directly related to how _you_ feel
about it--the vision you build and the tenacity with which you stick by it
to make it a reality--not how a VC feels about it. Jerry always seemed to
stay true to his vision, and people were excited to work with him. That's
not the mark of a boob in my book.

Patrick
Received on Sun Oct 06 2002 - 20:37:01 BST