32 Quotes
"As Dan Bricklin remembers it, the idea first came to him in the spring of 1978 while he was sitting in a classroom at the Harvard Business School. It was the kind of idea—so obvious, so right— that made him immediately wonder why no one else had thought of it."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"The question Bricklin was pondering that day in 1978 concerned how he might use what he knew about computers to help him in his finance course."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"This was the assignment: he and several other students had been asked to project the complicated financial implications- the shift in numbers and dollars, and the shifts resulting from these shifts- of one company’s acquisition of another."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"The problem with ledger sheets was that if one monthly expense went up or down, everything – everything – had to be recalculated."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"It was a tedious task, and few people who earned their MBAs at Harvard expected to work with spreadsheets very much."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Bricklin knew all this, but he also knew that spreadsheets were needed for the exercise; he wanted an easier way to do them. It occurred to him: why not create the spreadsheets on a microcomputer?"
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Why not make an electronic spreadsheet, a word processor for figures?"
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"With a computer programmer friend from MIT named Bob Frankston, he set to work developing the first electronic spreadsheet program. It would be contained on a floppy disk and run on the then brand-new Apple personal computer."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Bricklin and Frankson released VisiCalc (the name was derived from Visible Calculation) in late 1979."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"“The spreadsheet in that comparison is like the transcontinental railroad. It accelerated the movement, made it possible, and changed the course of the nation.”"
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"But saving time is hardly the only benefit of spreadsheets. They encourage businesses to keep track of things that were previously unquantified or altogether overlooked."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Yet what really has the spreadsheet users charmed is not the hard and fast figures but the “what if” factor: the ability to create scenarios, explore hypothetical developments, try out different options."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"The what-if factor has not only changed the nature of jobs such as accounting; it has altered once rigid organizational structures."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"The what-if factor has changed the way Allen Sneider, a partner in the Boston office of Laventhol & Harwath, a national accounting firm, approaches his job."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Junior analysts, without benefit of secretaries or support from data processing departments, can work up 50-page reports, complete with graphs and charts, advocating a complicated course of action for a client."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"They talk of “playing” with the numbers, “massaging” the model. Computer “hackers” lose themselves in the intricacies of programming; spreadsheet hackers lose themselves in the world of what-if."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Maxwell was his own boss and could follow his instincts. But a corporate executive who ignored such a clear-cut bottom-line conclusion might be risking his professional life. He is more likely to follow the numbers turned out by spreadsheets."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"So Stockman was able to fortify the Administration with figures — generated by a computer — showing that the deficit would not be problem."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"The buzz word these days in computer software firms looking to expand their markets is “personal productivity,” as if the home itself — maybe life itself – were best viewed as a business."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Spreadsheets are at the heart of this movement. Using electronic spreadsheets, everyone can run his or her own business."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"There is no doubt that the electronic spreadsheet saves time and provides insight; there is no doubt that even greater benefits will one day be derived from these grids."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Yet all these benefits will be meaningless if the spreadsheet metaphor is taken too much to heart. After all, it is only a metaphor."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Of human behavior, no faultless assumptions – and so no perfect model — can be made."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"Fortunately, few would argue that all relations between people can be quantified and manipulated by formulas."
— Steven Levy
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge | Backchannel"“Startups come into YC with raw DNA. We edit the DNA so that they have the alleles that make it more likely for them to be successful.”"
— Steven Levy
How Y Combinator Changed the World"It is even fair to say the economy itself has organized around YC’s shotgun-style investment philosophy rather than the traditional VC rifle shot."
— Steven Levy
How Y Combinator Changed the World"But maybe YC’s biggest contribution was to champion a way to look at founders. Over the course of the last decade and a half, founders have become central figures in the drama of our time."
— Steven Levy
How Y Combinator Changed the World"Under the laws of founderism, the sheer audacity of ambition makes the craziest plans the most valuable—the long shots that can pay off big."
— Steven Levy
How Y Combinator Changed the World"Graham would encourage them to make a slide showing how their idea would scale into something humongous."
— Steven Levy
How Y Combinator Changed the World"“Instead of seeing the company based on its business model, and replacing the founders with some professional manager, you choose a company based on founders, and you help founders.”"
— Steven Levy
How Y Combinator Changed the World"“If you feel like these founders have a good kernel of an idea, and they approach the problem the correct way, and they seem like thoughtful, smart people, then it’s worth a shot.”"
— Steven Levy
How Y Combinator Changed the World"Indeed, YC doesn’t see its role as vetting the science or monitoring the business practices of the companies it funds. The partners aren’t necessarily betting on a business model, they’re just putting a few chips on the founders, some of whom might have come up with their ideas just days or even hours before interviewing."
— Steven Levy
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