First published in Macworld December 1993Wise GuyDefying GravityHow to succeed by really tryingOne thing that makes my blood boil about the Macintoshsoftware market today is that big companies like Claris,Symantec, and Central Point Software are telling theproverbial two guys in a garage that it's too late to starta company. This drives me crazy because it stifles thecreative, can-do spirit of Macintosh. I know from recentexperience that two people in a garage can still makehistory.Getting into the MarketOn October 30, 1989, Terry Morse and a few fellow employeesfrom Mansfield Systems went out to lunch to celebrate hisbirthday. Unfortunately, he had to pay for his own lunchbecause that morning the company announced that it would beclosing down. Its venture capitalists had grown tired ofpouring money into the company. (Lesson 1: Never eat out onthe day your company goes broke.)Lloyd Chambers, a fellow employee, and Morse foundthemselves unemployed and out of money. Between the two ofthem, they had $12,000 from Morse's 401K plan, $5000 fromMorse's parents, and a short stack of Chambers's creditcards. So it made perfect (Macintosh) sense to start acompany.Morse and Chambers's first product was Partner, a precursorto the publish-and-subscribe technology that you still neversee anyone using. Morse and Chambers shipped version 1.0 ofPartner six weeks after Mansfield went under. (Lesson 2:Ship something quickly and get into the marketplace.)In the past, Chambers had created a freeware product calledMacCompress that compressed and expanded Macintosh files onUnix computers. While completing Partner, he worked onanother file-compression utility that would becomeDiskDoubler. Chambers intended to distribute this as ashareware product or to use it as a gift with the purchaseof Partner. (Lesson 3: Let programmers work on whatever theywant to.)Morse and Chambers started showing off Partner and betaversions of DiskDoubler at Computerware, an all-Macintoshsoftware and peripherals store in Palo Alto, California.They noticed that DiskDoubler--not Partner--was getting theoohs and aahs. Luck, or Macworld Expo impresario MitchHall's mistake, stepped in: the San Francisco Macworld Expowas in April that year, not January. Morse and Chambers hadthree extra months to finish DiskDoubler.In four days at the show, Computerware sold 500 copies ofDiskDoubler. By the summer of 1990, Morse and Chambers wereselling 1000 copies a month. They knew they needed outside,experienced advice, so they contacted Marty Mazner, theformer publisher of MacUser and former executive vicepresident of Computerware.Seeking Outside HelpMazner understood the potential of DiskDoubler, but he alsoknew that if an established company entered the market,Morse and Chambers might be snuffed out. So he arranged toshow DiskDoubler to Symantec, and asked me to come along.The suit (he's subsequently "left" Symantec) who ran themeeting had worked at Ashton-Tate, he had Symantec's clout,and he was going to walk all over Morse and Chambers andbestow upon them the honor of adding DiskDoubler to SymantecUtilities for Macintosh (SUM) for a pittance in royalties. Iwanted to puke.In Symantec's parking lot, Morse told me he needed $25,000to get a company going, and yours truly promised it to him.Salient Software incorporated in June 1990 with $50,000 ofcapital from myself, Marty, and Salient's law firm. (Lesson4: Ask and you shall receive--if you have a great product.)With Mazner's help, Morse and Chambers bootstrappedDiskDoubler by trading copies of it for ad space in leadingmail-order catalogs. Morse and Chambers didn't take anysalary for four months, until Salient's monthly sales wereabout $50,000. (Lesson 5: You don't need millions to start asoftware company.)Cashing OutSalient's sales kept increasing by 10 to 15 percent a monthuntil June 1991, when System 7 shipped, and sales exploded.DiskDoubler had become a successful product in a seeminglyinfinite numberof small upgrades. (Lesson 6: Constantlyenhance your product--don't believe the quantum-leap upgradetheories.)By the end of 1991, Salient was selling $2 million ofproduct a year. In June 1992, Salient had amassed year-to-date sales of $3.5 million, and Mazner worked out a deal tosell Salient to Fifth Generation Systems for a price Icannot disclose. Suffice it to say that Morse and Chambersconsider never working another day in their lives to be aviable option. (Lesson 7: You can still make a lot of moneywith Macintosh software.)Getting out of the GarageTwo guys in a garage can still succeed. It took Morse andChambers only three years. They weren't intimidated by bozoswho work for large companies, and who have never started acompany but are willing to tell you why you can't. Theycreated a product that was simple, easy to explain, and dida few things well. If you believe in yourself and work yourass off, you can defy gravity, too. And you can take this tothe bank.--Guy KawasakiGuy Kawasaki's views are his own and only sporadicallyrepresent those of Macworld. His current book, Hindsights,will be published by Beyond Words Publishing in January. Hehas investments in Bit Jugglers, Global VillageCommunication, Bookmaker Corporation, and others. He can bereached at Kawasaki@radiomail.net.Copyright, Macworld Communication Inc., 1993