Steve Ballmer

This is when he got his mugshot, right?

This is the classic Bill Gates holding up the, yeah.

This is the classic Bill Gates holding up the, yeah.

Because he got, I think, three speeding tickets in one day, two of which were from the same police officer.

Because he got, I think, three speeding tickets in one day, two of which were from the same police officer.

Because even when he was, what, 20, 21, he looked 17. Right.

Because even when he was, what, 20, 21, he looked 17. Right.

Yeah, that's interesting. I also think this moment galvanized something important, which is Bill and Paul could sort of look around and see there is going to be so much value created by microcomputers and by software. They really found religion around software is magic.

Yeah, that's interesting. I also think this moment galvanized something important, which is Bill and Paul could sort of look around and see there is going to be so much value created by microcomputers and by software. They really found religion around software is magic.

the things that people can create now that we've done this basic interpreter and these machines are cheap and plentiful, the magic will take care of itself as long as we ensure this industry can just exist and do its thing. And so they flipped from this mode of we need to bite and scratch and claw and make sure that we win in deals to, huh, how can we enable software as a thing to thrive?

the things that people can create now that we've done this basic interpreter and these machines are cheap and plentiful, the magic will take care of itself as long as we ensure this industry can just exist and do its thing. And so they flipped from this mode of we need to bite and scratch and claw and make sure that we win in deals to, huh, how can we enable software as a thing to thrive?

And I'm sure we can position ourselves well to capture some or a lot of that. And I think they became almost stewards of the software industry and evangelists from this point forward.

And I'm sure we can position ourselves well to capture some or a lot of that. And I think they became almost stewards of the software industry and evangelists from this point forward.

Also, how crazy is it you've got five people, you're operating out of Albuquerque, you just finally expanded from having one customer, and you're like, you know what we should do this year? Let's open in Japan and become an international company.

Also, how crazy is it you've got five people, you're operating out of Albuquerque, you just finally expanded from having one customer, and you're like, you know what we should do this year? Let's open in Japan and become an international company.

It's unbelievable. And it stayed at that very high run rate of international being a huge chunk, you know, close to half always, basically forever. This is a huge cornerstone of Microsoft's success that they were an international company from year three of their existence.

It's unbelievable. And it stayed at that very high run rate of international being a huge chunk, you know, close to half always, basically forever. This is a huge cornerstone of Microsoft's success that they were an international company from year three of their existence.

Right. And so he's got three reasons for why Seattle in particular. And by the way, it worked. Every single person except for his secretary did make the move. So one, he grew up in Seattle. He's like, I just want to go home. And then he justifies it in two other ways, which I found pretty fascinating. This is from an interview in the early 90s that he did.

Right. And so he's got three reasons for why Seattle in particular. And by the way, it worked. Every single person except for his secretary did make the move. So one, he grew up in Seattle. He's like, I just want to go home. And then he justifies it in two other ways, which I found pretty fascinating. This is from an interview in the early 90s that he did.

He said it basically came down to Seattle or Silicon Valley. And in Silicon Valley, it's hard to keep secrets because there's a rumor mill. And in Seattle, we can be a little bit more removed and we can announce things when we want to announce them. And two, in Silicon Valley, people switch around companies. I don't want that. I want people to just work at Microsoft.