Rod Canion
Open: How Compaq Ended IBM’s Domination and Helped Invent Modern Computing
ISBN: 978-193785699-1
I’m a bit of a history geek. I’ve gone down historical rabbit holes on the Internet from time to time. If I’d had an extra semester or two in college, I would have ended up with a history minor to complement my communication studies major and chemistry minor. One summer, I ended up reading thousands of pages about the life and times of Julius Caesar. (I have a major soft spot for Roman history.) Combine history with the beginnings of the microcomputer age in the 1970s and 1980s, and you end up with Open by Rod Canion, founder of Compaq.
The story of Compaq essentially outlines the creation and growth of a typical modern startup. A team of folks had an idea for a product, sought funding, found out their first idea had no traction, pivoted to a new idea, created prototype, sought funding again, got some traction, and worked under the radar as long as possible as they quickly scaled the company. They were able to scale Compaq without ruffling too many feathers elsewhere in the industry – until they were able to withstand some feather ruffling. The team took some risks that would not have been acceptable in larger companies, and were proactive rather than reactive. A true startup success story.
They followed the formula for startup success, but had a lot of luck on their side as well. The stars were so well-aligned for Compaq that it would be incredibly difficult for any modern startup to duplicate this chain of events. First, their major competition was IBM – a company which, to this day, doesn’t understand that it’s not the era of Don Draper and mid-century mainframes anymore. Most large corporations in most industries now understand that there are two paths: innovate or die. Small, agile startups can overtake your large, bloated corporation at any time.
Second, the speed at which the Compaq team received their funding is hard to duplicate when all you have is a sketch on a napkin. Not to say it doesn’t happen anymore, but angels and venture capitalists usually want to see some sort of customer validation before they open up their checkbooks, and for good reason. The type of exposure that the founders of Compaq had to the venture funding ecosystem through their prior work helped their cause tremendously – this is where the few deals that involve a napkin sketch happen.
While the book was quite short – I breezed through it in an afternoon – it was packed with insights. I enjoyed the glimpse into the dawn of true portable computing. The events all happened a bit before my time, as I really started using computers in the late 1980s into the 1990s. Also, we were an Apple household, so I didn’t have exposure to DOS until the Windows 3.1 and 95 era, as its importance was waning. However, it’s important to know where we came from in order to more logically posit where we are heading next.
Overall: 7/10, would recommend for the quick read and proof that the startup system can work, if you’re willing to put in the effort and make the connections you need.