Silliman University
Graduate School
Master of Engineering
Dumaguete City
MCE221 – Engineering Economic
Analysis/Entrepreneurship
ASSIGNMENT NO.1
5 Successful Technopreneurs
Submitted by:
Engr. Anabelle A. Rosario
Dr. Maria Lorena L. Tuballa
Instructor
December 2019
1. Bill Gates
Co-founder of Microsoft Corp. Founded: 1975
"Ultimately, the PC will be a window to everything people are
interested in-and everything we need to know."-Bill Gates
As a child, Bill Gates' two favorite games were "Risk" (where the
object is world domination) and "Monopoly."
Bill gates is an innovative visionary who sparked a computer
revolution. Others see him as a modern-day robber baron whose
predatory practices have stifled competition in the software
industry. He is one of the most successful entrepreneur of the
20th century. In just 25 years, he built a two-man operation into
a multibillion-dollar colossus and made himself the richest man in the world somewhere along the
way. Yet he accomplished this feat not by inventing new technology, but by taking existing
technology, adapting it to a specific market, and then dominating that market through innovative
promotion and cunning business savvy.
Gates' first exposure to computers came while he was attending the prestigious Lakeside School in
Seattle. A local company offered the use of its computer to the school through a Teletype link, and
young Gates became entranced along with fellow student Paul Allen, he began ditching class to
work in the school's computer room that their work pay off. When Gates was 15, he and Allen went
into business together. The two teens netted $20,000 with Traf-O-Data, a program they developed
to measure traffic flow in the Seattle area.
Despite his love for computer programming, Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973. By his own
admission, he was there in body but not in spirit, preferring to spend his time playing poker and
video games rather than attending class.
In December 1974, when Allen showed Gates a magazine article about the world's first
microcomputer, the Altair 8800. Gates and Allen called the manufacturer, MITS, in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, and told the president they had written a version of the popular computer language
BASIC for the Altair. Gates and Allen, who actually hadn't written anything, starting working day
and night in Harvard's computer lab. Because they did not have an Altair to work on, they were
forced to simulate it on other computers. When Allen flew to Albuquerque to test the program on
the Altair, neither he nor Gates was sure it would run. But run it did. Gates dropped out of Harvard
and moved with Allen to Albuquerque, where they officially established Microsoft. MITS collapsed
shortly thereafter, but Gates and Allen were already writing software for other computer start-ups
including Commodore, Apple and Tandy Corp.
The duo moved the company to Seattle in 1979, and that's when Microsoft hit the big time. When
Gates learned IBM was having trouble obtaining an operating system for its new PC, he bought an
existing operating system from a small Seattle company for $50,000, developed it into MS-DOS
(Microsoft Disk Operating System), then licensed it to IBM. MS-DOS became the standard operating
system for the industry, and Microsoft's sales soared from $7 million in 1980 to $16 million in
1981.
Microsoft expanded into applications software and continued to grow unchecked until 1984, when
Apple introduced the first Macintosh computer. The Macintosh's sleek graphical user interface
(GUI) was far easier to use than MS-DOS and threatened to make the Microsoft program obsolete.
Gates announced that Microsoft was developing its own GUI-based operating system called
Windows. Gates then took Microsoft public in 1986 to generate capital. The IPO was a roaring
success, making Gates one of the wealthiest people in the country overnight.
Windows was finally released in 1985. Meanwhile, Gates worked on improving Windows.
Subsequent versions of the program ran faster and froze less frequently. Third-party programmers
began developing Windows-based programs, and Microsoft's own applications became hot sellers.
By 1993, Windows was selling at a rate of 1 million copies per month and was estimated to be
running on nearly 85 percent of the world's computers.
Microsoft solidified its industry dominance in the mid-1990s by combining Windows with its other
applications into "suites". The strategy worked so well that by 1999 Microsoft was posting sales of
$19.7 billion, and Gates' personal wealth had grown to a phenomenal $90 billion. Microsoft's
competitors have complained that the company uses its operating system monopoly to retard the
development of new technology -- a claim Gates soundly refutes. The other is a hard-driven
businessman who, his fellow Silicon Valley , took readily to commerce and has an innate instinct for
the marketplace. This combination enabled Gates to see what his competitors could not. While they
were focusing on selling software, Gates was focusing on setting standards, first with MS-DOS and
later with Windows. The standards he helped set shaped the modern computer industry and will
continue to influence its growth well into the next century.
2. Steve Jobs (deceased)
Steve Jobs' vision of a "computer for the rest of us" sparked the PC revolution and made Apple
an icon of American business. But somewhere along the way, Jobs' vision got clouded -- some
say by his ego -- and he was ousted from the company he helped found. Few will disagree that
Jobs did indeed impede Apple's growth, yet without him, the company lost
its sense of direction and pioneering spirit.
After nearly 10 years of plummeting sales, Apple turned to its visionary
founder for help, and a little older and wiser Jobs engineered one of the
most amazing turnarounds of the 20th century.
The adopted son of a Mountain View, Calif., machinist, Steve Jobs showed an
early interest in electronics and gadgetry. While in high school, he boldly
called Hewlett-Packard co-founder and president William Hewlett to ask for parts for a school
project. Impressed by Jobs, Hewlett not only gave him the parts, but also offered him a summer
internship at Hewlett-Packard. It was there that Jobs met and befriended Steve Wozniak, a young
engineer five years his senior with a penchant for tinkering. After graduating from high school, Jobs
enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Ore. but dropped out after one semester. He took a part-time
job designing video games for Atari in order to finance a trip to India. When Jobs returned to the
U.S., he renewed his friendship with Wozniak, who had been trying to build a small computer. To
Wozniak, it was just a hobby, but the visionary Jobs grasped the marketing potential of such a
device and convinced Wozniak to go into business with him. In 1975, the 20-year-old Jobs and
Wozniak set up shop in Jobs' parents' garage, dubbed the venture Apple, and began working on the
prototype of the Apple I. To generate the $1,350 in capital they used to start Apple, Steve Jobs sold
his Volkswagen microbus, and Steve Wozniak sold his Hewlett-Packard calculator.
Although the Apple I sold mainly to hobbyists, it generated enough cash to enable Jobs and Wozniak
to improve and refine their design. In 1977, they introduced the Apple II -- the first personal
computer with color graphics and a keyboard. Designed for beginners the user-friendly Apple II
was a tremendous success, ushering in the era of the personal computer. First-year sales topped $3
million. Two years later, sales ballooned to $200 million.
But by 1980, Apple's shine was starting to wear off. Increased competition combined with less than
stellar sales of the Apple III and its follow-up, the LISA, caused the company to lose nearly half its
market to IBM. Faced with declining sales, Jobs introduced the Apple Macintosh in 1984. The first
personal computer to feature a graphical-user interface controlled by a mouse, the Macintosh was a
true breakthrough in terms of ease-of-use. But the marketing behind it was flawed. Jobs had
envisioned the Mac as a home computer, but at $2,495, it was too expensive for the consumer
market. When consumer sales failed to reach projections, Jobs tried pitching the Mac as a business
computer. But with little memory, no hard drive and no networking capabilities, the Mac had
almost none of the features corporate America wanted.
For Jobs, this turn of events spelled serious trouble. He clashed with Apple's board of directors and,
in 1983, was ousted from the board by CEO John Sculley, whom Jobs had handpicked to help him
run Apple. Stripped of all power and control, Jobs eventually sold his shares of Apple stock and
resigned in 1985.
Later that year, using a portion of the money from the stock sale, Jobs launched NeXT Computer Co.,
with the goal of building a breakthrough computer that would revolutionize research and higher
education. Introduced in 1988, the NeXT computer boasted a host of innovations, including notably
fast processing speeds, exceptional graphics and an optical disk drive. But priced at $9,950, the
NeXT was too expensive to attract enough sales to keep the company afloat. Undeterred, Jobs
switched the company's focus from hardware to software. He also began paying more attention to
his other business, Pixar Animation Studios, which he had purchased from George Lucas in 1986.
After cutting a three-picture deal with Disney, Jobs set out to create the first ever computer-
animated feature film. Four years in the making, "Toy Story" was a certified smash hit when it was
released in November 1995. Fueled by this success, Jobs took Pixar public in 1996, and by the end
of the first day of trading, his 80 percent share of the company was worth $1 billion. After nearly 10
years of struggling, Jobs had finally hit it big. But the best was yet to come.
Within days of Pixar's arrival on the stock market, Apple bought NeXT for $400 million and re-
appointed Jobs to Apple's board of directors as an advisor to Apple chairman and CEO Gilbert F.
Amelio. It was an act of desperation on Apple's part. Because they had failed to develop a next-
generation Macintosh operating system, the firm's share of the PC market had dropped to just 5.3
percent, and they hoped that Jobs could help turn the company around.
At the end of March 1997, Apple announced a quarterly loss of $708 million. Amelio resigned and
Jobs took over as interim CEO. Once again in charge of Apple, Jobs struck a deal with Microsoft to
help ensure Apple's survival. Under the arrangement, Microsoft invested $150 million for a
nonvoting minority stake in Apple, and the companies agreed to "cooperate on several sales and
technology fronts." Next, Jobs installed the G3 PowerPC microprocessor in all Apple computers,
making them faster than competing Pentium PCs. He also spearheaded the development of the
iMac, a new line of affordable home desktops, which debuted in August 1998 to rave reviews. Under
Jobs' guidance, Apple quickly returned to profitability, and by the end of 1998, boasted sales of $5.9
billion.
Against all odds, Steve Jobs pulled the company he founded and loved back from the brink. Apple
once again was healthy and churning out the kind of breakthrough products that made the Apple
name synonymous with innovation.
But Apple's innovations were just getting started. Over the next decade, the company rolled out a
series of revolutionary products, including the iPod portable digital audio player in 2001, an online
marketplace called the Apple iTunes Store in 2003, the iPhone handset in 2007 and the iPad tablet
computer in 2010. The design and functionality of these devices resonated with users worldwide.
In October 2011, Jobs passed away at the age of 56 due to complications related to pancreatic
cancer.
Filipino Technopreneurs
3. Diosdado “Dado” Banatao, Monstron
Dado Banatao is a popular name in Filipino success stories and technopreneurs forum. He was
born in Cagayan Valley Province, a place where
landscapes of farm is visible. His father is a rice
farmer and housekeeper. He then went to Ateneo de
Tuguegarao and at an early age of 15 pursued
college education at Mapua Institute of Technology
where he graduated cum laude with an Electrical
Engineering degree.
After accomplishing a degree at Mapua Institute of
Technology, Dado went to United States and worked
while enrolling in a graduate study program at the
University of Washington. He also pursued a Master
of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computing
Science at Standord University.
Dado was also fortunate for spending time with engineers and professors at Homebrew
Computer Club, including the legendary Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
Dado was popular for having invented the two of the foundation technologies in every Personal
Computer (PC) until today, that is, the chip set and the graphics acceleration architecture. He also
founded technology start-ups during his time. Mostron, was one of that. During 1993, was the S3,
considered the most profitable company in the world. During 1996, was Chips & Technologies
which later that year he sold to Intel.
At present, he is in partnership with Tallwood Venture Capital.
4. Raymond Racaza
A typical employee back then, Raymond’s turning point
was when he left his job for good and joined his friends to
establish a tech start-up company called Xurpas. It was a
tough decision to be an entrepreneur, he said in an
interview in Entrepreneur.com
Mr. Raymond Gerard S. Racaza has been the Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer of Xurpas
Inc. since November 2001. Mr. Racaza is responsible for the overall business operations of Xurpas,
that includes carrier-relationship management, marketing, product design, and profit and loss
responsibility for the core services was also part of the original development team of iAyala that
built the first Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) site in the Philippines. He has been a Director of
Xurpas Inc. since 2001. Mr. Racaza holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Major in
Information Technology from De La Salle University.
Long before Raymond sees the potential evolution of mobile. He then invented a game called
Xeleb, a celebrity-themed game including Anne Curtis, Erwan Heusaff, Isabelle Daza, and Kim
Atienza, also shareholders of the said game.
Work aside, Raymond is also a triathlete.
5. RJ David, Sulit.com to OLX.ph
In 2006, RJ with his girlfriend was driving to
Tagaytay when they talked about putting up a website.
Arianne, RJ’s girlfriend, came up with the idea of a classified
ads site. The main goal was to see which category of that
classified ads site would attract the biggest buyers and
sellers. What they had in
mind that time was cars. They were also planning to shift the
classified ads site into a more specific site.
That’s when Sulit.com was born. RJ and Arrianne David are now married with a successful
business. Today, from Sulit.com, it is already included in a global network called OLX. Now the site
named was changed from Sulit.com to OLX.ph. It has collaborated with OLX, merging with top
online classifieds around the world and operates them under one brand.
