Goodbye, Bell Bottoms

I retired in 2009 with no plans to be a C.E.O. again. I planned to invest in early-stage companies and to become involved with management teams where it made sense. Afterwards investing in Virtual Instruments and joining its board in 2009, I stepped in as C.E.O. in 2010. Originally, I intended to stay a few months, redirect the company to a more efficient business model and find a new C.E.O.

Virtual Instruments monitors the efficiency of business applications deployed in data centers and ensures their performance and availability. We see even greater opportunities as more companies move to private cloud computing, a more cost-effective way to run a data center, because we reduce the risk in deploying those applications.

I've learned several lessons over the years. First, never take yourself too in all seriousness, or work is boring. Straightway, people make the difference. You can have great research, nevertheless if it's not complemented by great people, it won't go anywhere. In short, clients buy from people they like. I can always circle back to former clients and suggest they might want to take a look at our products.