David Gilmour - Founder and CEO of Tacit Knowledge Systems
[Originally published 10/18/99]
Some entrepreneurs start their first company early in their career. Others, like David Gilmour, wait awhile before taking the entrepreneurial plunge. Gilmour graduated from the Harvard Business School in 1984 and joined Lotus Development Corp. After eight years at Lotus, he joined Versant Object Technology as Executive Vice President of Marketing. He was later promoted to CEO. In 1996, Gilmour helped found the Giga Information Group, an information technology research firm. His most recent career endeavor is Tacit Knowledge Systems.
You waited until fairly late in your career to start your company. What caused you to take the plunge when you did?
In many respects, I think I'm an anomaly. I'm 41 years old right now and I started Tacit just before my 40th birthday - which is old for Silicon Valley. And yet, I feel like this is the first time that all the planets have really lined up for me and it made sense to do this. I've been involved in a lot of young companies over the years so it's not like I needed to season myself or see different things in business first. But, in my life, I never happened to stumble across an idea that I thought was worth risking everything of my own until a couple of years ago when many different things came together for me. And I literally know the moment it happened. It was that black and white for me. I remember just which street I was on and practically the spot on the pavement.
What have you learned while getting your new company off the ground?
Startups need two things in abundance: invention and persuasion. Every startup has some sort of invention at its core. It either has a new way to look at a market, a new way to use or develop a technology, or something else truly unique and different. Startups also need people who have sufficient force of personality to get others to see that the invention is relevant and that the world could move into a place where the invention is really critical. So for students thinking about starting a new company, I would advise them to first try to know themselves well enough to know where their inventing and persuading skills are up to snuff, know where opportunities exist, and intersect the two.
Given your prior experiences at young companies, do you have advice for students thinking about joining a startup?
In an early startup company, you either have to be the person with the great idea (in which case you should chase it for all you're worth) or you're lucky enough to meet someone who has an idea but is missing something in their own ability or willingness to do certain jobs. So if you're thinking about joining a startup that's not "your startup," you really need a clear view for something that is special about yourself or your own talent that can interlock with the founders. It tends not to be functional or about experience. It's intensely personal. It's about who those other people are.
How do you go about building that type of bond with the founders?
There's something that Mitch Kapor taught me during my first year at Lotus. When you're an outsider moving into a group of inventors, there is a sort-of ritual that takes place. Before you can change the direction of what goes on, you have to earn your position in the group by showing that you can enhance the group's invention within the framework of its original assumptions. That is very different from enhancing it by hijacking it to a new set of assumptions - that's easy to do. But doing that too soon is a fatal mistake. So what I found has helped a couple of times when approaching entrepreneurs is to do just deep listening. Really understand, from where they sit, in their skin and in their head, why it is that they think their invention is relevant. What has driven them to invent? And then test the assumption by looking for extensions that resonate with the inventor. That's kind of the clue that you're on their beam and the trust can build.
Any other advice for students on their way to startups?
Being at a startup and not being the lead entrepreneur is a really difficult thing for a businessperson to do. So, if you thinking about jumping to an early-stage startup, you should insist on a direct mind-meld with the founder. Nothing else should substitute. I think that's the acid test for whether it's the right thing for you to do.
Some entrepreneurs start their first company early in their career. Others, like David Gilmour, wait awhile before taking the entrepreneurial plunge. Gilmour graduated from the Harvard Business School in 1984 and joined Lotus Development Corp. After eight years at Lotus, he joined Versant Object Technology as Executive Vice President of Marketing. He was later promoted to CEO. In 1996, Gilmour helped found the Giga Information Group, an information technology research firm. His most recent career endeavor is Tacit Knowledge Systems.
You waited until fairly late in your career to start your company. What caused you to take the plunge when you did?
In many respects, I think I'm an anomaly. I'm 41 years old right now and I started Tacit just before my 40th birthday - which is old for Silicon Valley. And yet, I feel like this is the first time that all the planets have really lined up for me and it made sense to do this. I've been involved in a lot of young companies over the years so it's not like I needed to season myself or see different things in business first. But, in my life, I never happened to stumble across an idea that I thought was worth risking everything of my own until a couple of years ago when many different things came together for me. And I literally know the moment it happened. It was that black and white for me. I remember just which street I was on and practically the spot on the pavement.
What have you learned while getting your new company off the ground?
Startups need two things in abundance: invention and persuasion. Every startup has some sort of invention at its core. It either has a new way to look at a market, a new way to use or develop a technology, or something else truly unique and different. Startups also need people who have sufficient force of personality to get others to see that the invention is relevant and that the world could move into a place where the invention is really critical. So for students thinking about starting a new company, I would advise them to first try to know themselves well enough to know where their inventing and persuading skills are up to snuff, know where opportunities exist, and intersect the two.
Given your prior experiences at young companies, do you have advice for students thinking about joining a startup?
In an early startup company, you either have to be the person with the great idea (in which case you should chase it for all you're worth) or you're lucky enough to meet someone who has an idea but is missing something in their own ability or willingness to do certain jobs. So if you're thinking about joining a startup that's not "your startup," you really need a clear view for something that is special about yourself or your own talent that can interlock with the founders. It tends not to be functional or about experience. It's intensely personal. It's about who those other people are.
How do you go about building that type of bond with the founders?
There's something that Mitch Kapor taught me during my first year at Lotus. When you're an outsider moving into a group of inventors, there is a sort-of ritual that takes place. Before you can change the direction of what goes on, you have to earn your position in the group by showing that you can enhance the group's invention within the framework of its original assumptions. That is very different from enhancing it by hijacking it to a new set of assumptions - that's easy to do. But doing that too soon is a fatal mistake. So what I found has helped a couple of times when approaching entrepreneurs is to do just deep listening. Really understand, from where they sit, in their skin and in their head, why it is that they think their invention is relevant. What has driven them to invent? And then test the assumption by looking for extensions that resonate with the inventor. That's kind of the clue that you're on their beam and the trust can build.
Any other advice for students on their way to startups?
Being at a startup and not being the lead entrepreneur is a really difficult thing for a businessperson to do. So, if you thinking about jumping to an early-stage startup, you should insist on a direct mind-meld with the founder. Nothing else should substitute. I think that's the acid test for whether it's the right thing for you to do.
posted by gnp at 11:24 AM
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