Audio Conversation: 'Bricklin on Technology'

Dan Bricklin is a software industry pioneer, best known as the co-creator of VisiCalc, who has a new book out called "Bricklin on Technology."

We talked last week about a few of the topics he addresses in the book, including how content will be monetized in the future, how creators (whether musicians, writers, or software developers) ought to deal with piracy, and how Dan is promoting and selling his new book (including on Twitter and YouTube). The MP3 is here, or you can just click 'Play' below. (It runs about 25 minutes.)



(Dan is also the host of Mass TLC's monthly Tech Tuesday event. There's one coming up on June 9th in Cambridge.)

Tomorrow Night's Event in Waltham, and Others...

Just some shameless self-promotion here for a second...

My new book Inventing the Movies came out in August, and I'm just starting to do some live events on the east and west coasts to promote it.

I have a 45-minute talk, illustrated with lots of photos and movie clips, and peppered with movie trivia, that focuses on the past, present, and future of Hollywood. The main theme: why does Hollywood (and all established, successful industries) tend to resist every innovation that comes along?

I'll be giving the talk this Wednesday evening at the Charles River Museum of Industry in Waltham...October 23rd at the Chelmsford Public Library...November 12th at the Museum of Science...and then in January and February at the Concord Free Library and the Boston Public Library.

The full schedule is here. The book's official Web site is here. Hope I'll see you at one of these events...

Sunday's column: Georges Doriot and the Origins of Venture Capital

Today's Globe column focuses on Georges Doriot, the founder of the modern venture capital industry...and the subject of a new book, "Creative Capital", by BusinessWeek editor Spencer Ante.

The opening:

Without him, Digital Equipment Corp. might never have gotten started, and the electronics-testing company Teradyne Inc. might not have survived beyond infancy.

He backed an oil rig-manufacturing company run by George H.W. Bush. The current Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman, once worked for his Boston firm. And a half-century ago, he put $50,000 into a company called Ionics Inc. that was trying to find new ways to desalinate seawater; GE bought the company in 2004 for $1.1 billion.

Georges Doriot is the forgotten grandfather of the modern venture capital industry. His Boston firm, American Research and Development, or ARD, helped lay the foundation for the Route 128 technology cluster.

Here's the video:



One correction to the column: Ante notes on his blog that the total amount ARD invested in Digital was more like $400,000; $70,000 was just the initial tranche.

Forthcoming book on George Doriot, the Granddaddy of Venture Capital

It's not gonna be out until next April, but I'm looking forward to the publication of 'Creative Capital: George Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital.' The author is Spencer Ante from BusinessWeek. (Note: I have no connection to the author or publisher... just mentioning it 'cause I find it interesting.)

Doriot was an influential prof at HBS and the founder of American Research and Development, the first VC firm; their biggest hit was a li'l company called Digital Equipment Corporation.

I'm not aware of another biography that has been written about Doriot, though someone did collect his writings in 2004.

Here's the description of 'Creative Capital,' from the Harvard Business School Press book catalog

...The author traces the pivotal events in Doriot's life, including his experience as a decorated brigadier general during World War II; as a maverick professor at Harvard Business School; and as the architect and founder of the first venture capital firm, American Research and Development.

....Ante gives us a rare look at the man who overturned conventional wisdom by proving that there is big money to be made by investing in small and risky businesses. This vivid portrait of George Doriot reveals the rewards that come from relentlessly pursuing what-if possibilities. ...

From Doriot's obituary in the NY Times:

In his role as a venture capitalist, Mr. Doriot thought of himself as someone who nurtured others' dreams. Comparing his role to that of a father with his children, he refused to give up on a business that was going through hard times. ''A history of profits is much more important in the long run than a profit in any one year,'' he said.