The entrepreneurial opportunities in this country are absolutely incredible.
I was in the process of trying to find an old friend, and using the internet for help.
I knew he was involved with software security with regard to "quantum computing" and the "internet of things."
After a career in the US Air Force working on strategic solutions of the same nature, he went on to pursue his ideas after he retired. "Strategic" in the USAF means looking at least twenty years out.
I honestly don't know if he was looking to build a company or if he was simply interested in pursuing some unique software security solutions.
Well, one thing led to another thing and another thing led to another thing and I see he is now the "Chief Science Office" for a large international company. I have no idea, but connecting the dots, my hunch is that he grew his company bigger than I would have ever imagined, and then was "bought out" by a group of investors who installed a new CEO, finance officer, etc., and hired my friend as the chief science office.
By the way, one of my friend's strengths was to realize when he lacked the expertise, time, or skill set to run an international company. He realized his strength was the science. He had no problem with getting "bought out" -- in fact, he told me years ago he hoped he would get "bought out."
In the short term, the new company was 100% dependent on my friend and his patents. The company continued to grow and is now acquiring other companies. I don't know if his company is yet a Fortune 500 company, or if it ever will be, or if it will be acquired by a Fortune 500 company.
But that matters not to me.
What interests me is the fact that an individual -- seriously, a single individual -- can build a potential Fortune 500 company in this country in less then ten years. Obviously everyone knows that and examples abound everywhere, but what makes the story interesting is that this little company (one person) began in a basement in Williston, moved on to "HQ 2" in San Diego, and is now headquartered in another state (purposely not mentioned in this post).
I was in his basement early on, years ago, as he was developing his security system and, he was literally using twine and electrical tape to hold things together. I never, never grasped what he was doing.
I prefaced all that to say this. Later today or tomorrow at the latest I will post the names of two "unknown" companies, a third company that should be known to readers; and a fourth company that is known to everyone who knows anything about oil. These were sent to me by a reader in a note regarding new fracking technology. [Update: that post has now been posted. Link here.]
I find it absolutely fascinating. The reader's final line is tectonic: "Strides in fracture technology in the last few years developed in the Bakken will make fracking solutions used by 'legacy' companies obsolete 'overnight.'"
I would do it today, but I am with Sophia all afternoon and don't have the time to do this "right" until later this evening.
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How To Scramble Eggs
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