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Title: Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Start-Up That Took on Microsoft by Jim Clark, Owen Edwards ISBN: 0-312-19934-1 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.59 (27 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: LIGHT THROUGH A MOSAIC
Comment: Would you spend twenty dollars to spend about 8 hours listening to Jim Clark reminisce about starting SGI and Netscape? Then buy the book.
For those familiar with the struggle of trying to accomplish something innovative, you will find his story strangely familiar. For those trying to innovate something on the Internet, you will find this book very encouraging. For those who read between the lines, you will find that it's not about the money, it's about "getting it" and being right, and money is the proof statement in this brave new world.
Clark's direct no-nonsense style can be in your face at times, and you can see why the dense just couldn't get it, because no one likes being shouted awake from a deep sleep. But like most prophets, Clark sees no profit in beating around the burning bush. It seems to be a trait of the innovator.
There is some real insight buried among the stories, as well as advice on how to deal with VCs and dilution of equity, problems many of us look forward to having.
This should be an audio CD, since it is more of an epic poem than a book. It would be great to have a DVD version with addition points of view and multimedia. Netscape made the Internet a multimedia experience; it would seem only fitting that a book by its founder would do the same.
Rating: 5
Summary: The "Real Thing" for Those Who Read The New New Thing
Comment: If you liked Michael Lewis' book, The New New Thing, about Jim Clark,
I think you will like Jim Clark's ruminations even more in this book
about what he learned at Silicon Graphics and how he helped create
Netscape. I also recommend this book as a superb case history
concerning key lessons about entrepreneurship in the Internet age.
If you don't know Clark's and Netscape's story, here's a quick
summary. Jim Clark uncovered a software approach to creating 3D
graphics while an academic. He left to found Silicon Graphics, and
eventually suffered from conflicts with his hand-picked CEO.
Frustrated by the inability to redirect the company towards a low-end
workstation and PC-based business, he resigned at age 50 with stock
worth about $15 million. Looking around for something to do, one of
his SGI colleagues suggests he meet Marc Andresson, the 23 year old
who had primarily co-written Mosaic, the first browser (along with
Eric Bina). Clark's first use of Mosaic was to e-mail Andresson.
They quickly decided to do something together, and Clark agreed to
fund it up to three million dollars. After two false starts on a
concept, they decide to create a "Mosaic Killer." The
strategy then becomes to hire all the people who had worked on Mosaic
at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the
University of Illinois. That, too, is quickly accomplished.
The
young men except for Bina have to wait to graduate from college, and
then a company is built around them as "rock star"
developers under Andresson's technical leadership. Within months, the
first release of what will become Navigator is up on the Web for free
downloading. Netscape quickly begins to sell licenses to major
companies, Jim Barksdale is hired as CEO, and the company goes public
to an astonishingly positive reaction. The company soon decides to
concentrate on software as its business rather than becoming a content
provider. Microsoft soon notices a new competitor, and the allegedly
anticompetitive actions now being ajudicated in the courts take place.
Netscape is sold to AOL. Clark later goes on to found his third
company, which is the subject of The New New Thing.
But, you
probably knew all or most of that. Why read this book then?
To
me, the value of what I found here was that Jim Clark seemed to be
pretty candid about why he decided to do or not do certain things that
had a very large impact on SGI's and Netscape's success. As a result,
this is an excellent study in entrepreneurship that considers how the
Internet changes everything. Whether your business is in the old or
the new economy, I think you can learn many valuable lessons from this
thought process and its consequences.
Here are the successes:
First, one important thing he did right was to fund the start-up
initially with his own money. His purpose was to get a bigger piece
of the pie for himself and the key developers. As founder of SGI, he
had received only about 1.5 percent of the company's market cap.
Early use of venture capitalists had cost him money in his view, and
he was probably right. A software start-up doesn't need tremendous
amounts of money. Founders and angels can often fund round one. This
made it easier for him to work with Andresson to attract the
development team, and reward them properly.
Second, his initial
strategy was to focus on getting all of the Mosaic development talent
into Netscape. That also was a good decision. In a new technology
area, the people are usually more important than the intellectual
property. Spyglass focused on getting the intellectual property
without the people, and did not do very well. This looks like another
good decision.
Third, he began selling software licenses early.
This gave him credibility, cash flow, and access to more financings at
an attractive price.
Fourth, he overcame his error in picking a
leader at SGI and chose Jim Barksdale. Clearly, Barksdale was a good
choice. I suggest you read Clark's thinking about why entrepreneurs
should usually find someone else to run the company for them. In
Clark's case, he just isn't interested in working on all of the
details and hanging around. But every business needs a CEO who does.
Fifth, he went along with Andresson's preferences to "release
early and often" and to make the software free. This speeded up
development time, and the company's growth. This was a key strategic
decision. Clark quickly grasped that Internet businesses needed
faster action and could provide it than hard asset businesses
could.
He also made some errors. Here they are:
First, and most
importantly, he knew that he was taking on Microsoft ultimately, but
did not properly prepare. As Sun Tzu suggests, your strategy should
either ensure that you do not have to fight or that the fight is under
circumstances so favorable that you cannot lose. Machiavelli suggests
that you always kill your enemy, because wounded enemies are lethal.
Netscape needed more and more powerful allies, and a way to insulate
itself from the inevitable Microsoft browser product buried in a
Windows package for free. I suspect that the error here was that he
didn't fully realize that he had the potential to create another
Microsoft.
Second, he focused the company on browser software to the
exclusion of content opportunities. All of the later Web successes
like Amazon, Yahoo and eBay could have been innovated by Netscape at
that point. Clark didn't want to split the company's focus, and the
browser product was hot. In retrospect, he probably left 99 percent
of the opportunity on the table. In this case, he probably did not
fully appreciate the future potential of the Internet. A better
solution would have been to start-up new companies with partner and VC
funding to put these operations together. They would have been
outside of Netscape and had their own focus and funding. Netscape
could have been an even more successful version of CMGI.
Third, he
ruffled the feathers of the people at the University of Illinois. He
waited until they were annoyed before making peace. This disagreement
wasted a lot of time and money, and slowed down corporate acceptance
of Netscape. He needed a diplomat on his team earlier on.
As you
can see, that's a lot to think about in one book.
After you have
finished absorbing and applying these lessons, I suggest that you ask
yourself where your pursuit of opportunities and examination of
potential risks may be too limited. Learn from Jim Clark's
experiences to take full advantage of the potential of where you are,
and then you will not need a new new thing.
Lead others and yourself
into greater prosperity!
Rating: 1
Summary: Good story, shame about the author
Comment: I found the book to be a reasonably enjoyable read, however I must say that the author's high opinion of himself seems to shine through on almost every page and really put me off. We don't want to know about his boats, wealth, etc... just the story would do.
I read a different version, and the cover had just him on the front with a really self satisfying grin. And there were NO photos in the book to relate the story to!
Could have been much better.
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