70 Year Old Millionaire Comeback And Start Business

In fact, David Duffield (David Duffield) can take good care of his life. In the past 70 years, he founded many companies and defined the commercial software market. He himself became a billionaire himself.

But you can't see him on the golf course, because he is still a workaholic, and now he is catching up with the boom of Silicon Valley start-ups and becoming co CEO of Workday software company.

Then why does such a billionaire go to a small check-in every morning?

This is because he feels his new ideas are very good, and he can't bear to give up, but the main reason is that he loves working.

In a brutal takeover battle, PeopleSoft Inc (PeopleSoft), a human resource software manufacturer founded by Duffield, was bought by Oracle.

But just a few months later, he and his old partner Anil Bujase Leigh (Aneel Bhusri) began to build a new company.

In short, Workday is the software needed for staff management in large companies, but it is distributed through web browsers.

You can think of it as Salesfore.com. for employee records.

Five years after Duffield and Bujase Leigh founded Workday, I met them in California, and talked about when the company was going to be listed and why they were still pursuing the "Silicon Valley dream".

The following is an excerpt from our conversation.

Workday has raised $165 million, which is not a small sum.

Before creating Workday, you lost the family in the acquisition war.

You frankly hope that Workday will come into the market someday.

Since the listing is so troublesome, why do we still have to go public?

Duffield: This is like adult ceremony. It will be very different after becoming a listed company.

For example, if we are on the market, if a top 500 company in the United States comes to buy our product, it must have known all the financial information it needs in advance, so frankly speaking, it will be much simpler.

However, because we are still a Private Companies, they need to investigate the investors and the assets and liabilities of our company.

To sum up, from the point of view of sales organization, the listing of companies is a good thing.

Listing is undoubtedly a good thing for company employees.

I hope my employees can make a profit from it and make good use of the money they earn to make their family better.

Bujase Leigh: investment bankers say that if we want to, we can go public in 12 months.

They understand the operation of our company.

However, our company will not be listed in [2010].

But if the market conditions permit in the next few years and our company will continue to perform well, then we will be on the market.

But we are not in a hurry because the opportunity is only once, and we must see to it.

After the acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc, all kinds of negative speculation were aroused, but later oracle was well done. What did the two think?

Duffield: Oracle really did a good job.

Frankly speaking, I feel very relieved.

I have worked in Ren Ke for 17 years, and I certainly hope that the product can be retained and that customers can enjoy the fruits of our labour.

Bujase Leigh: I was very emotional at that time, because neither the Oracle nor SAP had bought the company that was so great.

Today, the two companies have made thirty or forty acquisitions.

Looking back, I think the acquisition opened the trend of merger, marking the end of the technology cycle.

But at that time, we did not realize this clearly.

David, you are already a billionaire and have founded many companies.

People who are quite qualified are now doing venture capital. They may be the chairman of the company, or the CEO of their long run company.

Few of them are willing to be the CEO of a new venture.

Why do you do this?

Duffield: Anil and I both enjoy working together.

During the acquisition of the war, the situation was difficult, and I chose to return to help the company tide over difficulties.

Frankly speaking, I felt good at that time.

At that time, the situation of Ren Ke was somewhat out of control.

If we could have another one or two years, maybe we could get through it, so now I probably still stay in the family.

But in the final analysis, I enjoy my job and I like my partner, and I have a sense of mission.

And I want to be an example for my children.

Yes, I can choose to sit on rocking chairs and play puzzles on my back porch, but I have 6 children, the youngest 9 years old, the oldest is only 16 years old, and I need to have someone to support my family.