Steve Ballmer

On top of all of this, the way that they executed it through subsidiaries was pretty genius. Redmond did not control international. They spun up country managers and subsidiaries in each of these countries in a ton of countries.

And so while Redmond did the product development and then did the engineering work to do localization to all the strings files and everything for those countries, the actual marketing messaging and the sales strategy and the sales structure... happened in country that was owned by a person who lived there.

And so while Redmond did the product development and then did the engineering work to do localization to all the strings files and everything for those countries, the actual marketing messaging and the sales strategy and the sales structure... happened in country that was owned by a person who lived there.

So they actually could think through what is the best way for people to receive this software here, which again, that's just going to yield way better results than if you're sitting there armchair quarterbacking at Redmond thinking about how a person in Chile is going to receive your marketing message.

So they actually could think through what is the best way for people to receive this software here, which again, that's just going to yield way better results than if you're sitting there armchair quarterbacking at Redmond thinking about how a person in Chile is going to receive your marketing message.

And one other that I have is this one that we didn't really talk about, but Microsoft famously was not first to market with basically any of their applications. They aren't even really today in most cases. I mean, you think about the strategy that they had early on, spreadsheets, word processing, all these were copycats at their outset.

And one other that I have is this one that we didn't really talk about, but Microsoft famously was not first to market with basically any of their applications. They aren't even really today in most cases. I mean, you think about the strategy that they had early on, spreadsheets, word processing, all these were copycats at their outset.

I mean, sometimes they would do an acquisition, but most of the time they just look at a our software should do the same thing. And they would copy it. They had no shame in doing that. They had their eyes everywhere looking for good ideas, and they had reverence for the good ones, and then they would just incorporate them.

I mean, sometimes they would do an acquisition, but most of the time they just look at a our software should do the same thing. And they would copy it. They had no shame in doing that. They had their eyes everywhere looking for good ideas, and they had reverence for the good ones, and then they would just incorporate them.

And on top of that, they wanted to make the software very easy to switch to. So a lot of the keyboard shortcuts in Excel to this day are there because they were originally the Lotus 1-2-3 shortcuts, and they wanted people to have the same muscle memory that just worked. So fundamentally, what this does for you as a business is it just leads to better risk-adjusted returns.

And on top of that, they wanted to make the software very easy to switch to. So a lot of the keyboard shortcuts in Excel to this day are there because they were originally the Lotus 1-2-3 shortcuts, and they wanted people to have the same muscle memory that just worked. So fundamentally, what this does for you as a business is it just leads to better risk-adjusted returns.

You already know what's going to work before you ship it. You don't really take market risk. So you're not going to be the first to the market with early adopters, but most of the time, you actually don't need to be to win. And I think Microsoft, I don't know, they sort of own that idea. Most of the time, people are sheepish about it. Steve Jobs famously said, Microsoft has no taste.

You already know what's going to work before you ship it. You don't really take market risk. So you're not going to be the first to the market with early adopters, but most of the time, you actually don't need to be to win. And I think Microsoft, I don't know, they sort of own that idea. Most of the time, people are sheepish about it. Steve Jobs famously said, Microsoft has no taste.

I think that's another way to put it, that it's copycatting.

I think that's another way to put it, that it's copycatting.

Right. That's a good point. It's also different. I mean, the Lotus 1-2-3 multi-plan thing in that era, Microsoft just didn't have great distribution yet. And so Lotus 1-2-3 just got pretty far ahead of them and Microsoft had no way to catch up. A few years after that, that would basically never be true again.

Right. That's a good point. It's also different. I mean, the Lotus 1-2-3 multi-plan thing in that era, Microsoft just didn't have great distribution yet. And so Lotus 1-2-3 just got pretty far ahead of them and Microsoft had no way to catch up. A few years after that, that would basically never be true again.

I will say you touched on something that's an interesting corollary to this is their first versions of software famously are not good. You look at Windows 1.0 and 2.0. They know that it's part of the strategy and they were world class at learning from customers and integrating customer feedback into subsequent versions.

I will say you touched on something that's an interesting corollary to this is their first versions of software famously are not good. You look at Windows 1.0 and 2.0. They know that it's part of the strategy and they were world class at learning from customers and integrating customer feedback into subsequent versions.

And so there's always this like saying of Microsoft doesn't have a very good first or second version, but the third version of something is typically pretty good. And I think that fact pattern definitely follows.