Please buy me GEMAYA (goog, ebay, msn etc)

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Originally uploaded by redbarren.

Don Dodge from Microsoft is another talking absolute sense in this emerging land of absurdity where a live prototype that can be replicated in 90 days, that has no business model or revenue is considered a business : "Entrepreneurs confidently tell Venture Capitalists "Microsoft will acquire my company". VCs roll their eyes...they have heard it a million times. But, Microsoft does have a rich tradition of acquisitions :

* QDOS became MS-DOS
* ForeThought became Powerpoint
* SoftDesign became Microsoft Project
* Vermeer became FrontPage
* PlaceWare became Live Meeting
* Vicinity became a key part of MapPoint
* nCompass Labs became Content Management Server
* Bungie Studios became Halo
* HotMail
* Visio
* Great Plains
* Groove Networks

Microsoft has acquired an average of 10 companies per year over the past 10 years... Entrepreneurs should remember this. The "barriers to entry" are most often market position, not technical brilliance. .. Many start-ups have failed by focusing too much on their technology and not enough on the value they bring to customers and the channels they use to service the customer. Many times the early innovator fizzles, and a "fast follower" comes in and makes all the money."