Billionaire SAS co-founder keeps on coding

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138264/Billionaire_SAS_co_founder_keeps_on_coding

by naish • 17 years ago

74 32 17 years ago

computerworld.com

bbgm• 17 years ago

In a similar vein, I've always admired D. E. Shaw. who still publishes single author theory papers.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110562316/abstrac...

TriinT3• 17 years ago

Quoting David E. Shaw:

"Maybe it was because I was in the financial field. It's a zero sum game. You cannot make money unless someone else is losing money. That's one of the reasons why I like science: it doesn't work that way."

Source: http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080116/full/451240a/box/1.ht...

ncarlson2• 17 years ago

> It's a zero sum game.

That's embarrassingly false.

christonog• 17 years ago

SAS institute is one of those rare companies where the founders did not sell or go public, but still created a hugely valuable business. Just comes to show that there are other routes you can take with your startup and be successful with enough hard work and preserverance.

TriinT3• 17 years ago

I wholeheartedly agree. When so many seem to be seeking exit strategies, like an IPO or an acquisition, it's refreshing to see that some still think in a more long-term basis and battle to build businesses that will grow more organically throughout their entire lifetimes.

It's a bit like planting sequoias versus planting eucalyptuses. OK, I concede that the analogy may be sketchy, but you get the idea...

brandonkm• 17 years ago

In addition to this, SAS institute is an absolutely great place to work. All the employees there that I've talked to love it, are super dedicated and have no desire to work anywhere else.

mallipeddi• 17 years ago

What does it mean when the article says "perhaps we can credit it to his Midwestern roots for his drive"? I've never lived in America long enough to understand the differences between Americans from different parts. Anyone willing to give me a crash course?

olefoo• 17 years ago

The short version:

People who grow up on farms or in farming communities are widely supposed to be honest, plain spoken, unassuming and religious.

People who grow up in the big cities of the east coast are expected to be cunning, devious, greedy, atheistic and untrustworthy.

People who grow up in the affluent suburbia of the west coast are generally thought of as creative, decadent, and prone to inappropriate cultural exploration, believing in strange gods, making love to trees, etc.

In reality these regional stereotypes are as misleading as any national caricature.

njharman• 17 years ago

I thought it had a lot more to do with the puritan/protestant work ethic than farming.

defen• 17 years ago

Tom Wolfe has a good intro to it here, using Robert Noyce of Intel as a prototypical Midwestern American: http://www.forbes.com/asap/1997/0825/102.html

revorad• 17 years ago

"SAS makes all of the money. JMP is the fun product," Sall said.

This guy is my new hero!

wallflower• 17 years ago

In Michael Lewis' "The New New Thing", he describes how Jim Clarke, Netscape co-founder was up at 3AM scribbling math equations on how his mega-yacht could have a convincing CG nautical compass. The book has a picture of this crumpled napkin, which is fascinating.

b-man• 17 years ago

On the same note, queen's guitar player, Brian May, is also an astrophysicist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May#As_an_astrophysicist

aditya• 17 years ago

Interestingly,

An executive vice-president at SAS, Sall remains JMP's chief architect, running a team of 100, including 20 developers

What are the other 80 people on the team doing if not writing code!?

dejv• 17 years ago

QA, support and probably a lot of pre-sales support kind of roles?

varjag• 17 years ago

Domain experts?

designtofly• 17 years ago

This is a good article that describes the company (SAS) and their culture:

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/21/sanity.html

omouse• 17 years ago

Whoever wrote the article is an ass:

Although still a desktop software product, JMP is so robust today that the latest, version 8, can display graphically millions of rows of data.

Although?? It's a desktop software product because the desktop is powerful. The personal computer you have under your desk is a very powerful machine. It's a shame that a lot of software moves as slowly as molasses and isn't coded with performance in mind.

Billionaire SAS co-founder keeps on coding

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