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Why Did Larry Ellison Pick Microsoft as the Enemy? · Founders

Founders

#404 How Larry Ellison Thinks

This episode covers the unique way Larry Ellison thinks. I spent over 40 hours reading (and rereading) this book on Ellison written by Matthew Symonds. ⁠ I then spent several days editing down 40 pages of notes into a one-hour nonstop stream of Larry Ellison's ideas. Episode sponsors: ⁠Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your…

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Notes

  1. What Did Larry Ellison Bet Oracle on? at 3:15

    David Senra reads Larry Ellison's decision to abandon all further development of client-server applications and concentrate Oracle's entire engineering effort… Full answer

  2. Why Did Larry Ellison Leave Consulting? at 18:32

    David Senra reads Larry Ellison's reason for leaving consulting almost immediately: it proved to be much more work than he ever imagined, and a software… Full answer

  3. What Was Oracle's Biggest Crisis? at 24:17

    David Senra reads the account of Oracle's biggest crisis: it hit in 1991, and the company almost went out of business. Full answer

  4. Why Did Larry Ellison Have to Save Oracle? at 29:37

    David Senra quotes Larry Ellison saying he had to save Oracle to save himself. Ellison could not run away. Full answer

  5. Why Wouldn't Larry Ellison Sell Oracle Equity? at 35:50

    David Senra reads Larry Ellison's refusal to sell Oracle equity. Full answer

  6. Why Did Larry Ellison Pick Microsoft as the Enemy? at 38:09

    David Senra reads Larry Ellison's reason for picking Microsoft as the enemy: he set out to stop people talking about Oracle and other database companies and… Full answer

  7. Why Did Larry Ellison Refuse 200 Budget Slides? at 42:28

    David Senra reads Larry Ellison's refusal to look at a senior manager's 200 budget slides until four basic questions were answered. Full answer

  8. Why Does Oracle Need an Enemy? at 51:16

    David Senra reads Larry Ellison's case that Oracle needs an enemy: the company is always at its best when it has an enemy to go after. Full answer

  9. Why Does Larry Ellison Think Bravado Helps Leaders? at 57:25

    David Senra reads Larry Ellison's case for bravado. Full answer

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