
How software companies die - hanszeir
http://fuzz-box.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-software-companies-die.html
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rmason
Read that and thought of Ashton Tate which made dBase. The original
entrepreneur, George Tate, died of a heart attack. The new CEO, Ed Esber,
famously told dBase inventor, Wayne Ratliff, that he wasn't any more important
than the guy loading the trucks. Ratliff and a few key developers left. A few
years later Esber didn't have a clue what happened to his company which self
destructed.

Sad thing is Ratliff started his own database company with some fairly
innovative technology for the time. But he was an engineer with no company
building skills and it didn't go anywhere.

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Luyt
I hope I have the guts to quit when marketing- and sales types take over the
company. If they offer me enough money, I might stay, despite the
braindeadness.

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yuhong
This is why executive succession and search is so important to do right, I
think.

