1、Volume VII67$57,1*#$#+,*+07( Kenneth R. Allen, attorney-at-law withTownsend and Townsend in Palo Alto, CA; Janet G. Effland, vice president of the venturecapital firm Alan Patricof Associates, Inc., in Menlo Park, CA; Anthony C. Bonora, senior vicepresident of research and development at Asyst Techn
2、ologies in Milpitas, CA; the late David H.Bowen, publisher of Software Success in San Jose, CA; William J. Wall, vice president offinance and administration and CFO of Resumix, Inc., in Santa Clara, CA; Dr. David K. Lam,founder of Lam Research Corporation and president and CEO of Expert Edge Corpora
3、tion inPalo Alto, CA; Ed Zschau, former U.S. congressman and chairman and CEO of Censtor in SanJose, CA; Dr. Phillip B. Nelson, industrial psychologist with the Institute for ExceptionalPerformance in San Francisco, CA; and Dr. Jeanne Gilkey of the University of Phoenix in SanJose, CA.In addition, t
4、he following individuals provided advice or resource materials: Bruce W. Jenett,attorney-at-law with Fenwick Dr. Jim Plummer, president of Q.E.D.Research and venture capital consultant in Palo Alto, CA; C. Gordon Bell of Los Altos, CA,formerly of Digital Equipment Corporation and author of High-Tech
5、 Ventures; Mary Cole; andKathy Janoff.My wife Heidi grammar-checked the manuscript. My terrific kids, Robby and Sandy, missedway too many bike rides with their dad.Barbara Stoler, Manager, Career Development and Outreach at IEEE, helped me step-by-stepthrough the arduous process of revising and mark
6、eting the book. Jill Bagley, EditorialCoordinator orchestrated production and typesetting of this book.,17528&7,21The fact that start-up companies have been generating new jobs while large establishedcompanies have been laying people off has caused a great deal of media attention to be focusedon sta
7、rt-ups. At the same time, starting your own business has been glamorized by a steadystream of articles and books about successful entrepreneurs.The good news is that all of this exposure has made it socially acceptable for people to quit theirbig company jobs and start their own enterprises. The bad
8、 news is that much of the availableinformation for new companies glosses over or completely ignores the monumental effortrequired to successfully launch an organization. Over the years, numerous entrepreneurs havetold me about the discouragement and hard work they faced in launching their companies.
9、Starting a company is a very difficult process, but much of the discouragement results fromunrealistic expectations. When I left Amdahl Corporation to launch my first software company,my boss at the time told me, “Dave, you think this is going to be a sprint, but its really amarathon.” He was the fi
10、rst of many wonderful people who extended a helping hand and showedme the lay of the land.Starting a company in Silicon Valley enabled me to meet other entrepreneurs who were furtheralong in their ventures. Some had started dozens of businesses, while others were just beginningtheir second year. No
11、matter what stage of the game they were at, I learned something fromeveryone I talked to.While reading Starting a High-Tech Company, I thought back to my early days as anentrepreneur and gleaned new insights into issues I had wrestled with time and time again. MikeBaird reached out and helped me, an
12、d, in turn, I shared some of my experiences with Mike,which are included in this book.If you are considering initiating your own start-up from a large-company environment, I stronglyurge you to read this book from cover to cover. Then, reread it every few months and refer backto it with questions as
13、 they come up in your business.If you have already started your own business, much of what you read here will confirm whatyou already know, but you may gain deeper insight into why things are the way they are.Everyone who reads this book will feel a sense of camaraderie as they read about other peop
14、lewho have embarked on this journey.Good luck to you all as your businesses grow and evolve!David H. Bowen3DUW#2QH7+(#*(1(6,6Part One of Starting a High-Tech Company discusses opportunitiesfor the entrepreneurial engineer, clarifies your new role as the CEOand founder of your own business, and descr
15、ibes life in your newstart-up. If you have not given much thought to how starting your ownbusiness might impact your life, then these chapters should beespecially beneficial.&KDSWHU#467$57083#23325781,7,(6)25#+,*+07(&+#(175(35(1(856“Software opportunities continue to provide the bestpaths for engine
16、ers wanting to start their own companies.” David H. Bowen2SSRUWXQLWLHV#IRU#6WDUW08SV#$ERXQGWhile the number of start-ups may be down from its highest levels, the number that will succeedis not. Although it is true that less venture capital is available these days, those companies goodenough to get i
17、t are more likely to do well.Figure 1.1 Rates of Return for 200 Venture Capital-Backed Ventures from 19731983Source: TTG Research and J. Trudel, High Tech with Low Risk: Venturing Safely Into the 90sAs Figure 1.1 suggests, venture capital-backed companies have made money for some, but notall, start-
18、up entrepreneurs. While a venture funds investors have the safety of diversification,your shot must be on target. Your gain will roughly mirror that of your investors return in yourstart-up. So you see, you have roughly a one-third chance of losing money, a one-third chance ofbreaking even, and a on
19、e-third chance of becoming substantially wealthy.This book teaches you how to launch and finance your successful start-up. There remainnumerous areas of opportunity for engineering-related start-up companies, some of whichinvolve markets far larger than those of the 1980s. These new technologies wil
20、l continue to driveout the old. For example, personal computers are increasingly becoming connected in networksand supplanting what minicomputers and mainframes used to do. That requires new hardwareand software tools that you could develop. Hardware and software for pen-based computers arehot, as i
21、s software for WindowsTM-based applications. Medical electronics and biotechnologyalso continue to cross new horizons, and wireless communication is emerging as an importantgrowth area.10%8%14%34%22%12%greater than 10 timesgain5 to 10 times gain2 to 5 times gain1 to 2 times gainpartial losstotal loss
