
Michael Bloomberg on starting a business during tough economic times (1982) - raldi
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/08/business/for-new-business-during-recession-start-must-be-lean.html
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chollida1
Other than this article being from 1982 I didn't find alot interesting in it.
There are only a couple of quotes from Michael Bloomberg and the article isn't
really about him at all. I guess you could say that I learned that click bait
headlines were a thing back in 1982:)

In all seriousness.......

I think the most interesting thing about Michael Bloomberg's success( 13th
richest person in the world) is that successful people don't typically come
from nowhere, but usually have a very strong track record of successes that
predate the event or thing that others associate their success with.

In his case he was:

\- an engineer from a good school,

\- then got an MBA from Harvard.

\- He was then a general partner at Salomon Brothers(the Google of wall street
at the time).

He then left with a $10 million buyout in 1981 dollars that he used to fund
Bloomberg.

Or put another way, I've always felt that by 25 you are who you will be. There
will always be outliers who finds a reason to turn his/her life around but
almost all the successful people I know had an impressive track record of
accomplishments before their big success happened.

TL/DR success is rarely an overnight event. Most successful people build on an
increasing track record of successful events before hitting their big success.

~~~
gmarx
The most successful software entrepreneur I know (in monetary terms) had none
of this. When I met him he was fresh out of the army and not as an officer. He
did some web programming for us. The next thing he did was the classic bad
idea of consulting his way to a product. A decade later he's worth north of
100 million dollars

~~~
CyberDildonics
I think you're burying the lead, how did he make 100 million?

~~~
gmarx
I think it's "lede" but anyway I just didn't want to be too specific in case
anyone felt like tracking him down. After the company we both worked for he
went back home and was going to do some software projects on a consulting
basis. He started working on administrative software for a guy who had a
business at the periphery of the medical field. The guy who had the business
suggested that the software he needed might be useful to other people in the
business and got my friend to do the project for less money in exchange for
the right to sell it as a product. That original customer also invested. I
think one of the keys was that it wasn't a glamorous business and no one
terribly sophisticated was working on software for it. From there I think it
was old fashioned business, years of slogging and sales and incremental growth
until his was the top provider in his region. Then he sold a large part of the
company to a private equity firm. So it was a very not silicon valley story.

As far as key lessons for people on this site I'd say it's not to focus on the
standard silicon valley story. In a lot of ways he did everything that goes
against the summmary wisdom of ycombinator hacker news. He didn't solve a
problem that he had. He started solo. He consulted to product. He technically
had a angel investor in his first customer. He never raised VC. He sold to
private equity. He didn't do it in Silicon Valley. Also his tech skills
weren't that impressive and his platform choice seemed laughable. I think the
key is solving a real problem in an unglamorous little known business and sell
and survive and grow.

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paulpauper
who would have guessed that in 2 decades he would be so successful. Bloomberg
was right in the middle of the intersection of computers and trading. The
timing could not have been better.

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dev1n
The whole point of the article is that more businesses start during
recessions. The logical flow from this article is that because The Great
Recession was what it was, we have this huge cycle of businesses starting up.

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acqq
His wealth seems to have recently increased 50% in one and half year, for
amazing 11 billons. Anybody knows how?

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg#Wealth](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg#Wealth)

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coderdude
Companies established in 1982 (thanks, Wikipedia):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_established...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_established_in_1982)

Notable: Amiga, LucasArts, Compaq, Autodesk, Lotus

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xyzzy4
Michael Bloomberg also advises to spend less time in the bathroom.

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ticked off a few of his tips for success: arrive
early, stay late, eat lunch at your desk.

Oh, and don’t go to the bathroom so much."

[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/nyregion/bloomberg-
shares-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/nyregion/bloomberg-shares-a-few-
secrets-to-success-be-early-stay-late-and-hold-it-in.html)

