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This can be read as a story of what happens when management becomes divorced from engineering... literally. >Lore Harp and Carole Ely of Westlake Village broug
by zeteo 11y ago
This can be read as a story of what happens when management becomes divorced from engineering... literally.
>Lore Harp and Carole Ely of Westlake Village brought along the Vector 1, a PC designed by Lore's husband, Bob Harp.
>In 1980, the partnership began to crack at the seams. The stresses of the company took a heavy toll on Bob and Lore's marriage, prompting them to seek a divorce.
>Bob fought with Vector's board of directors, insisting the company should sell an IBM PC compatible machine, but Lore and the board resisted. [...] "I felt that I had to leave the company and start another one based on PC compatibles," says Bob. Vector's board granted his wish, firing him in 1981. The following year, Bob founded Corona Data Systems, which created one of the first IBM PC clones.
>Lore became the first female founder to take her company public on the New York Stock Exchange. But the celebration was short-lived. IBM PC's jump into the personal computer market in August of that year had a clarifying effect on the industry.
>In 1982, Lore married tech media magnate Patrick McGovern, the founder of research firm IDC and publisher of Computerworld and InfoWorld [...] She sought a new beginning with more time devoted to her marriage. [...] Between the grueling daily commute and a lack of love from the board of directors, Lore had had enough. She stepped down once again, this time for good. It was 1984; she was 40 years old.
>The company filed for bankruptcy in 1985, ceased operations in 1986, and a holding company liquidated all its assets [...] in 1987
- comrade1 11y agoI think it reads more as a story of what happens when there are factors outside of your control while running your company. They could do nothing about the IBM PC and they even knew that IBM was mimicing their business strategy, and yet there was nothing they could do. IBM couldn't work with them because they couldn't handle the volume. They knew their end was coming and they all exited the company when they saw what was coming. I think they showed themselves to be much more savvy then you give them credit for. Today, it would be like you finding out that Google is about to come to compete with you. They did great, I think. They did an IPO, cashed out, stuck the investors with the shitty stock, gave all of their employees significant stock grants, and went on to live nice lives. That's everyone's HN dream.
- zeteo 11y ago> They could do nothing about the IBM PC Except for doing what the engineering guy had proposed - selling an IBM PC compatible machine. PC clones became a huge industry in the mid '80s. The first Compaq was sold in 1982, the first Dell in 1985. It looks like Vector missed out on this very lucrative market because of the rift between its engineering and management.
- _yosefk 11y agoEveryone's dream? I dunno, getting life-changingly rich by selling worthless stock is kinda scary, much more so than winning a lottery (and I never bought a ticket because, among other things, winning is irksome.) It'd kinda ruin it for me. I mean, I'm in it for the money and all, but one needs a lot of contempt for the guy stuck with worthless stock to feel perfectly fine with the outcome. Unless you genuinely thought it was a good deal for the buyer and even then its disappointing a bit
- danmaz74 11y ago> They could do nothing about the IBM PC and they even knew that IBM was mimicing their business strategy, and yet there was nothing they could do Actually, they could have done what one of the founders suggested, and actually did after leaving the company: create an IBM compatible system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_Data_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_Data_Systems
- mintplant 11y agoReading through the "History" section, it doesn't seem like Corona fared well at all.
- asavadatti 11y agoAt least he tried and failed instead of just giving up.
- drfuchs 11y agoI bought a PC-compatible from Corona circa 1983 after my extensive research showed it had better technology (and thus more of a chance of corporate survival) than the also-newly-created Compaq.
- nickpsecurity 11y agoNicely put in the first line. Probably the first time I've seen it happen literally and just as nasty a result as I'd expected.