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Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

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Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#42

The problem with using market cap for tech is that Wall Street and the financial industry in general factors in too much "hype" and imagined future earnings into their valuations. This should be obvious to anyone that sees headlines of X Company with unreliable revenue model now valued at $50 Billion. If instead you look at industries which don't have as much of this future hype, they are much more competitive. Fashi…

So how about using revenue growth?

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#43

The problem with using market cap for tech is that Wall Street and the financial industry in general factors in too much "hype" and imagined future earnings into their valuations. This should be obvious to anyone that sees headlines of X Company with unreliable revenue model now valued at $50 Billion. If instead you look at industries which don't have as much of this future hype, they are much more competitive. Fashi…

So how about using revenue growth?

Still not particularly useful if we are comparing new companies to old ones. I'm sure the brand new oil companies of 1875 had incredible revenue growth in the ±20 years after their founding, too. Does that mean that oil men make the best CEOs?

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#44

Does anyone find this methodology lazy, if not disingenuous? - Google/Alphabet's current CEO is a materials engineer [0] - Apple's current CEO is an MBA with a degree in industrial engineering [1]. Jobs, the founding CEO, was also not a software engineer. - Amazon's CEO, Bezos, was a software engineer [2], but it's widely known that he didn't do programming work for Amazon. I don't think he would consider himself a "…

Once a software engineer always a software engineer when it comes to management perspective.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#45

Does anyone find this methodology lazy, if not disingenuous? - Google/Alphabet's current CEO is a materials engineer [0] - Apple's current CEO is an MBA with a degree in industrial engineering [1]. Jobs, the founding CEO, was also not a software engineer. - Amazon's CEO, Bezos, was a software engineer [2], but it's widely known that he didn't do programming work for Amazon. I don't think he would consider himself a "…

Regarding Alphabet, the article listed Sergey and Larry, arguably the leaders who oversaw google's meteoric rise. There is a note about Schmidt as well. Pretty much same comment for Apple, it remains to be seen if Tim Cook is another Jobs/Gates or if he is instead a Ballmer. Regarding Bezos, if you read the article you will find that you actually made the one of the major points in the article with your comment about…

How does it remain to be seen with Tim Cook. Cook is and has been knocking it out of the park on all fronts from product strategy to share price.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#46

Umm, if the product is software the domain expertise helps for that, but im not sure how companies like Shell or United Airlines benifit from a software CEO.

I don't know for Shell, but for airlines; maybe it's having a website/app that actually works.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#47

Does anyone find this methodology lazy, if not disingenuous? - Google/Alphabet's current CEO is a materials engineer [0] - Apple's current CEO is an MBA with a degree in industrial engineering [1]. Jobs, the founding CEO, was also not a software engineer. - Amazon's CEO, Bezos, was a software engineer [2], but it's widely known that he didn't do programming work for Amazon. I don't think he would consider himself a "…

Regarding Alphabet, the article listed Sergey and Larry, arguably the leaders who oversaw google's meteoric rise. There is a note about Schmidt as well. Pretty much same comment for Apple, it remains to be seen if Tim Cook is another Jobs/Gates or if he is instead a Ballmer. Regarding Bezos, if you read the article you will find that you actually made the one of the major points in the article with your comment about…

I just bought an M1 Macbook Pro (my first Apple laptop) because I didn’t have anymore reasons to stay with PC. For a long time I was looking at Macbooks like shiny overpriced gadgets, but with its 20 hour lifetime, great screen and performance, amazing touchpad, while Windows 10 being buggier than Windows 7, I stopped having reasons not to switch.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#48

Does anyone find this methodology lazy, if not disingenuous? - Google/Alphabet's current CEO is a materials engineer [0] - Apple's current CEO is an MBA with a degree in industrial engineering [1]. Jobs, the founding CEO, was also not a software engineer. - Amazon's CEO, Bezos, was a software engineer [2], but it's widely known that he didn't do programming work for Amazon. I don't think he would consider himself a "…

Once a software engineer always a software engineer when it comes to management perspective.

Coding really does teach something that I've never learned anyplace else. I've also done just about zero in the arts, so maybe there are some parallels there, I should try music or painting someday to see. I know for sure that math and engineering classes didn't teach me what coding taught me.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding Alphabet, the article listed Sergey and Larry, arguably the leaders who oversaw google's meteoric rise. There is a note about Schmidt as well. Pretty much same comment for Apple, it remains to be seen if Tim Cook is another Jobs/Gates or if he is instead a Ballmer. Regarding Bezos, if you read the article you will find that you actually made the one of the major points in the article with your comment about…

How does it remain to be seen with Tim Cook. Cook is and has been knocking it out of the park on all fronts from product strategy to share price.

I think it took a while for the Ballmer effect to kick in at Microsoft. Organizations have creating new things baked into their DNA, and it does resist corrosion. So I am curious to see if Cook can avoid squelching that like Ballmer.

Operations is great to have and Cook is really good at it. Focus on ops can destroy the creative process though.

I figure another 8 years and we'll know for sure (Ballmer clocked in at 14). I look forward to being wrong, Cook is a great human being.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once a software engineer always a software engineer when it comes to management perspective.

Coding really does teach something that I've never learned anyplace else. I've also done just about zero in the arts, so maybe there are some parallels there, I should try music or painting someday to see. I know for sure that math and engineering classes didn't teach me what coding taught me.

And what would that be exactly?
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