Tim O'Reilly

I wrote a piece on LinkedIn many years ago called How I Failed. And there were a set of things that I put in there that I learned too late. One of them was that as an entrepreneur, you need to value the financial people. I know a lot of entrepreneurs who fail because they don't pay attention to their numbers.

I wrote a piece on LinkedIn many years ago called How I Failed. And there were a set of things that I put in there that I learned too late. One of them was that as an entrepreneur, you need to value the financial people. I know a lot of entrepreneurs who fail because they don't pay attention to their numbers.

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I tell some stories about things that because I didn't, that do that well enough. You know, I had to make suboptimal choices because I had not given myself the optionality. So get a great CFO until actually she's no longer my CFO, but when I hired in 2000, I was always the best financial person in the company.

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I tell some stories about things that because I didn't, that do that well enough. You know, I had to make suboptimal choices because I had not given myself the optionality. So get a great CFO until actually she's no longer my CFO, but when I hired in 2000, I was always the best financial person in the company.

You know, my CFOs, I was, I would go, Hey, there's something wrong with that number. And they go, why? And I go, well, because I had developed my own kind of financial reporting system. And a lot of it was like what percentage, every expense, what percentage was it of total sales? And so I could see, again, it was a pattern matching kind of thing for me.

You know, my CFOs, I was, I would go, Hey, there's something wrong with that number. And they go, why? And I go, well, because I had developed my own kind of financial reporting system. And a lot of it was like what percentage, every expense, what percentage was it of total sales? And so I could see, again, it was a pattern matching kind of thing for me.

So I go, wait, so I go, there's something wrong with that number. And they would say, well, how do you know? And I'd say, well, because it's normally it's 0.35% of sales and suddenly it's 2% of sales. So you either have an error or something happened. You need to tell me what it is. Finally, I got somebody who was better than I was. And I went, great. I don't have to do that anymore.

So I go, wait, so I go, there's something wrong with that number. And they would say, well, how do you know? And I'd say, well, because it's normally it's 0.35% of sales and suddenly it's 2% of sales. So you either have an error or something happened. You need to tell me what it is. Finally, I got somebody who was better than I was. And I went, great. I don't have to do that anymore.

I used to literally carry with me at all times, this set of financial reports, because I was always, I was the one who had to really be monitoring the health of the business. So hire people who compliment you. So that's probably one of those big pieces of advice. And the other thing, and this is probably more relevant for me as an entrepreneur at my age,

I used to literally carry with me at all times, this set of financial reports, because I was always, I was the one who had to really be monitoring the health of the business. So hire people who compliment you. So that's probably one of those big pieces of advice. And the other thing, and this is probably more relevant for me as an entrepreneur at my age,

You have to understand that at some point you're going to have to let go one way or the other. So you have to think about succession. You have to think about who takes up the reins from you and how to teach people to do what you do and all those kinds of things.

You have to understand that at some point you're going to have to let go one way or the other. So you have to think about succession. You have to think about who takes up the reins from you and how to teach people to do what you do and all those kinds of things.

I wouldn't call it an empire. I would call it a small island nation.

I wouldn't call it an empire. I would call it a small island nation.

Well, that's, again, one of our things that we always say, create more value than you capture. That came to us back around 2000. I was telling a story at a management meeting and I won't name the names. There were a couple of early internet billionaires who told me that they started their company with an O'Reilly book. Thank me for it.

Well, that's, again, one of our things that we always say, create more value than you capture. That came to us back around 2000. I was telling a story at a management meeting and I won't name the names. There were a couple of early internet billionaires who told me that they started their company with an O'Reilly book. Thank me for it.

I was telling the story and I laughed and I said, yeah, we got 35 bucks. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, and I think it was Brian Irwin, the guy I mentioned earlier, he said, we create more value than we capture. And we immediately said, oh, that's a great slogan. It should be our goal. It should be the goal of every business to create more value than you capture.

I was telling the story and I laughed and I said, yeah, we got 35 bucks. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, and I think it was Brian Irwin, the guy I mentioned earlier, he said, we create more value than we capture. And we immediately said, oh, that's a great slogan. It should be our goal. It should be the goal of every business to create more value than you capture.

And if you follow Cory Doctorow's work on enshitification, you understand that companies lose the plot on that. They stop saying we have to create more value than we capture. The market slows down and suddenly they're going, actually, we have to take out more than we put in because we have to keep growing. And that's just wrong.

And if you follow Cory Doctorow's work on enshitification, you understand that companies lose the plot on that. They stop saying we have to create more value than we capture. The market slows down and suddenly they're going, actually, we have to take out more than we put in because we have to keep growing. And that's just wrong.