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Most of the companies you mention are not counterexamples, because they were already big when they started acquiring and merging with other companies.

by pg 13y ago

larrys 13y ago
At Wharton I interviewed the founder of Jerrold electronics. Iirc (this was a long long time ago) his Philadelphia connection to Ralph Roberts (comcast) was how he built Jerrold (they made cable boxes). Comcast of course grew large by starting and getting it's first cable franchise in a small town in Mississippi. Nobody chooses their cable company the cable company chooses you. (I actually have an audio tape of that interview that I made.)
smoyer 13y ago
Big but I wouldn't say "huge" ... and they did tend to be bigger than the companies they were acquiring (Time-Warner was huge in other businesses before the acquisition spree really started). I mentioned "aggression" in your market as a requirement for becoming huge, but was it also something that led to them being big in the first place? I think there are people who act convincingly larger than they are, and the world grows to fit them. There are a whole host of business requirements that can sink the process of becoming big. Adelphia failed because the Rigas family aggressively expanded the company, took it public but continued to treat it as though it was still family owned (I shouldn't say more). So the business acumen to run an enterprise at different sizes is important - I've seen leaders fail to hire appropriately, then delegate kill promising companies too. I think we could make a long list of reasons for failure. larrys: I'd love to hear your audio ... Jerrold was purchased by General Instruments who was in turn purchased by Motorola. Motorola added Jerrold's set-top boxes, to GI's trunk amplifier and line extenders (and other head-end equipment), then Motorola added both to their cable modem business and that conglomerate was ultimately bought by Google. Cisco purchased Scientific Atlanta who was the main competitor.
- larrys 13y ago
  I will try to dig it up. Another person I interviewed was Ed Moldt who ended up years later being the head of the Wharton Entrepreneurial Center. At the time he was working on telemedicine a way that doctors could remotely diagnose patients by video.

Most of the companies you mention are not counterexamples, because they were already big when they started acquiring and merging with other companies.

by pg 13y ago

Most of the companies you mention are not counterexamples, because they were already big when they started acquiring and merging with other companies.

larrys 13y ago

At Wharton I interviewed the founder of Jerrold electronics. Iirc (this was a long long time ago) his Philadelphia connection to Ralph Roberts (comcast) was how he built Jerrold (they made cable boxes). Comcast of course grew large by starting and getting it's first cable franchise in a small town in Mississippi. Nobody chooses their cable company the cable company chooses you. (I actually have an audio tape of that interview that I made.)

smoyer 13y ago

Big but I wouldn't say "huge" ... and they did tend to be bigger than the companies they were acquiring (Time-Warner was huge in other businesses before the acquisition spree really started). I mentioned "aggression" in your market as a requirement for becoming huge, but was it also something that led to them being big in the first place? I think there are people who act convincingly larger than they are, and the world grows to fit them. There are a whole host of business requirements that can sink the process of becoming big. Adelphia failed because the Rigas family aggressively expanded the company, took it public but continued to treat it as though it was still family owned (I shouldn't say more). So the business acumen to run an enterprise at different sizes is important - I've seen leaders fail to hire appropriately, then delegate kill promising companies too. I think we could make a long list of reasons for failure. larrys: I'd love to hear your audio ... Jerrold was purchased by General Instruments who was in turn purchased by Motorola. Motorola added Jerrold's set-top boxes, to GI's trunk amplifier and line extenders (and other head-end equipment), then Motorola added both to their cable modem business and that conglomerate was ultimately bought by Google. Cisco purchased Scientific Atlanta who was the main competitor.

larrys 13y ago
I will try to dig it up. Another person I interviewed was Ed Moldt who ended up years later being the head of the Wharton Entrepreneurial Center. At the time he was working on telemedicine a way that doctors could remotely diagnose patients by video.