Home → Magazine Archive → February 2016 (Vol. 59, No. 2) → The Land Sharks Are on the Squawk Box → Abstract

The Land Sharks Are on the Squawk Box

By Michael Stonebraker

Communications of the ACM, Vol. 59 No. 2, Pages 74-83
10.1145/2869958

[article image]


Kennebago, ME, summer 1993. The "Land Sharks" are on the squawk box, Illustra (the company commercializing Postgres) is down to fumes, and I am on a conference call with the investors to try to get more money. The only problem is I am in Maine at my brother's fishing cabin for a family event while the investors are on a speakerphone (the squawk box) in California. There are eight of us in cramped quarters, and I am camped out in the bathroom trying to negotiate a deal. The conversation is depressingly familiar. They say more-money-lower-price; I say less-money-higher-price. We ultimately reach a verbal handshake, and Illustra will live to fight another day.

Back to Top

Key Insights

ins01.gif

Negotiating with the sharks is always depressing. They are superb at driving a hard bargain; after all, that is what they do all day. I feel like a babe in the woods by comparison.

0 Comments

No entries found