Principles of a Successful Entrepreneur

By Sheldon Razin

I started my software company forty years ago with $2,000 and built it into a multi-billion-dollar value with no debt and no venture money.

That's right: we never had any debt; we never had any venture money.

Not many people have done that, but if I were to start all over today, I could do it again. I want to tell you how I did it, and how you can, too.

I was a very unlikely entrepreneur. I went to college and graduated in mathematics. I never had a course in business, never had a course in economics. Nothing associated with business at all. Zero.

Even though I never prepared myself to build a company, something in my blood always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to control my own life, to beat the odds, to be the go-to guy who figured things out — and make some money in the process.

Everyone has innate gifts, aspects of their personality or unique thought processing. The trick is to recognize your own gift(s) and then hone and incorporate them into your regular dealings. It starts with intense self-awareness.

It's never about what someone else could or should have done. It's always about you, the entrepreneur — the one in charge, the one who has to come up with the answers, the one who has to figure out what to do next. You're the one who needs to learn the lessons, so you can overcome your own weaknesses.

When you do something about a weakness you have, all of a sudden you're stronger than anyone else. That's growth.

A lot of lessons in this book are of value to people who aren't in business. They're of value to people in general.

Somewhere in here are principles of negotiation. You negotiate all the time with everybody: with your wife, with your children. Negotiations occur regularly in everyday life.

You might have goals that have nothing to do with business but that require perseverance and innovation. You need some good luck; you need the absence of bad luck.

The analytical methodology can make things better. You went through an experience and

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9780692289532

Book preview

Chapter 1

WHY LISTEN TO ME?

Because I was you

I started my software company forty years ago with $2,000 and built it into a multi-billion-dollar value with no debt and no venture money.

That’s right: we never had any debt; we never had any venture money.

Not many people have done that, but if I were to start all over today, I could do it again. I want to tell you how I did it, and how you can, too.

Some people have asked me, Can you teach entrepreneurism? Can you tell me how to be a Steve Jobs?

The answer is no, I can’t teach you to be a Steve Jobs. He was one in a million. But I can tell you how to be pretty good. The superstar component is something you’re born with. There were too many elements of his inner soul, too many factors that he inherited in his genes and were fostered by his early environment. I can’t replicate them. But I can make you a better entrepreneur, because, frankly, if I could do it, anyone who really wants to can do it.

I was a very unlikely entrepreneur. Why was I unlikely? My educational background. I went to college and graduated in mathematics. I never had a course in business, never had a course in economics. Nothing associated with business at all. Zero. From 1955 to 1959. The courses were available; I never took them.

Even though I never prepared myself to build a company, something in my blood always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to control my own life, to beat the odds, to be the go-to guy who figured things out—and make some money in the process. When I was just thirteen, I jumped over the fence at Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Massachusetts, about five miles outside of downtown Boston, and tried to beat the dog races. My compatriots and I cobbled together a $2 bet, and I was the mathematician who figured out how the dogs were going to run around the track. I graduated to horse racing before I went to college.

Figure it out, make some money.

Fortunately, I was born with an analytical ability, an innate gift of analysis, which I honed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I analyzed every experience I went through, looking for what lessons I could learn from it to make me better.

Everyone has innate gifts, aspects of their personality or unique thought processing. The trick is to recognize your own gift(s) and then hone and incorporate them into your regular dealings. It starts with an intense self-awareness.

When I looked at the individual experiences I went through, I never blamed anybody for bad outcomes, because I knew I wouldn’t learn anything that way. Saying, Well, the reason things went bad is because so and so did this wrong thing wouldn’t get me anywhere and left no room for personal growth. What I’d say to myself was, "What did I do wrong? Or, What could I have done better?"

It’s never about what someone else could or should have done. It’s always about you, the entrepreneur—the one in charge, the one who has to come up with the answers, the one who has to figure out what to do next. You’re the one who needs to learn the lessons, so you can overcome your own weaknesses.

When you do something about a weakness you have, all of a sudden you’re stronger than anyone else. That’s growth.

To My Reader

A lot of the lessons in this book are of value to people who aren’t in business. They’re of value to people in general.

Somewhere in here are principles of negotiation. You negotiate all the time with everybody: with your wife, with your children. Negotiations occur regularly in everyday life.

You might have goals that have nothing to do with business but that require perseverance and innovation. You need some good luck; you need the absence of bad luck.

The analytical methodology can make things better. You went through an experience and it didn’t turn out right: what can you learn from it? That’s universal.

The ability to say you’re wrong is important in all aspects of life. In fact, it is life.

No one is good at everything. I was always very leery of my own memory, so years ago I started recording everything I did during the day in a notebook. If I met someone, I’d record the date, the person’s name, what we talked about. As a result, I had a better memory than people with good memories. Don’t let what you don’t know or can’t do stop you.

This is life.

One last note: I founded Quality Systems, Inc., or QSI, in 1973 and took it public in 1982. I was either the sole proprietor or CEO for most of the company’s history. After I retired from my position as CEO, I continued to lead QSI as its founder and Independent Chairman of the Board of Directors, and I still take great pride in helping its board and management team.

The stories, lessons, philosophies, and beliefs I share in this book, however, were not written on behalf of the company. They’re from my nearly half a century of entrepreneurial and business success. I hope they will provide some guidance for you as you travel your own road to entrepreneurial success.

Chapter 2

NOT ALL GREAT IDEAS WORK OUT

I honed my analytic skills at MIT

MIT always published the test questions from the prior three years’ core classes—math, physics, and chemistry—to give people an idea of what their upcoming quizzes would be like. Anyone could pick up a copy of the questions at the bulletin board.

The fraternities at MIT always had super-smart people who would ace the quizzes and then save their returned tests in a file at the fraternity house. Their members not only had access to the questions but also to the correct answers.

I wasn’t in a fraternity. I was a member of the 5:15 Club, an organization for commuters. When I realized that I and many of my fellow students didn’t have access to those fraternity files, I saw an opportunity. "How can I bring this to the rest of the student body—or even do a better job than the fraternity people?"

I wanted to not just provide the answers to the quizzes; I wanted to explain how to arrive at the answers.

As a senior, I was Freshman Advisor to a very bright student whose last name was Feldman. I took him aside and said, Why don’t you do the chemistry, I’ll do the math, and we’ll split up the physics. We won’t just answer the questions; we’ll write the solutions in such a way that they’re almost a course by itself.

This was my first experience in giving added value. The frat guys were giving their people the right answers. I wanted my pamphlets to also provide the thought process of how to get to those right answers. I thought, We’ll do it at MIT, and then we’ll take it across the nation. I know how to do this: you get a few bright guys and they do all the tests. I still wasn’t interested in business, but this seemed like an easy way to make some extra money.

Feldman agreed, so the two of us went to work. MIT let me use their mimeograph machine for free, but typing it up was a mess because typewriters didn’t have mathematical symbols in those days. We had to write in certain equations and symbols. I did some of it, and a friend’s mother ended up typing up some of it. Then we had to collate the whole thing.

My extended family used to come to our house every Sunday from Brockton and Haverhill, so one Sunday I set up an assembly line to put the pages together. We all went around the table gathering mimeographed pages into packages. Then we stapled them into booklets with front and back card-stock covers.

The original idea was to sell them off street corners, but I looked across the street from 77 Mass Avenue, where MIT is, and saw the Technology Bookstore and thought of another opportunity. Instead of selling onesies, why don’t we sell the whole thing to the Technology Bookstore?

I showed the booklets to the store manager. Do you think these things will sell?

He said, They’ll sell like hotcakes.

Good! Then you’ll take the whole lot.

He said, Not so fast.

What do you mean, ‘not so fast’?

We’re owned by the Institute. We can’t do this unless we get permission. Do you mind giving me a copy of your stuff?

About a week later I got a call from the Dean’s office. As I walked into his office, he started reciting: You’re Sheldon Razin. You were born on this day; you’re taking these classes…. He knew everything about me.

He said, Would you like to graduate?

"What do you mean? Oh, I see you have

Reviews for Principles of a Successful Entrepreneur

[Winston Frias Pombo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very concise and to the point book. The guides and templates alone more than justify reading and buying the book. I will read it again for sure.