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Answer to q3. Benioff (salesforce.com), Ellison (oracle), heck probably Ballmer as well, he certainly doesn't seem to get how to run product development.
by apapli 14y ago
Answer to q3. Benioff (salesforce.com), Ellison (oracle), heck probably Ballmer as well, he certainly doesn't seem to get how to run product development.
- abc_lisper 14y agoEllison was a programmer. Benioff was a programmer too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Benioff#Career http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Benioff#Career Given the position Microsoft was in 2000, when Mr.B took charge, I don't think their position could be much worse.
- apapli 14y agoTrue, but I expect all three spend a fair portion of their time selling nowadays. Sales is a collection of activities, not necessarily a full time role.
- thedufer 14y agoBut isn't the article about sales people starting businesses? Those people would undoubtably have been called programmers, not sales people, when they started (except Ballmer, who didn't start a company at all).
- apapli 14y agoAnd agree with your comment about Mr B, probably could have found a better example :)
- JanezStupar 14y agoAnd Balmer has certainly been around some leet techies enough to have a better understanding of technology than 3/4 of HN people.