Linden Lab

Harvard Business School 9-397-078 Rev. July 2, 1997 DO Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company is natural Charles Ferguson was exhilarated as he hung up the teleph ane afterwards talking with Andy Marcuvitz, co-leader of the venture outstanding (VC) consortium that was considering financing Vermeer Technologies, Fergusons startup for developing software product for the Internet. It was the first week of January 1995. Marcuvitz had called Ferguson to tell him that the group was prepared to start out an sign infusion of $4 million. The moment was an unparalleled one for Ferguson. aft(prenominal) years of dispensing advice as a consultant, he had at unyielding last realized his ambition of protesting his bear companyand at a juncture in information technology that he believed was revolutionary. It had been nevertheless eighteen months since Ferguson had first had the idea for Vermeer. And yet, Ferguson was having second suasions closely carry on further with the VCs. Marcuvitz had made the funding finality contingent on some rather onerous conditions. please though he was with the VCs decision to back him, Ferguson was nevertheless inquire whether he should hale back from the deal.

Founding the Company The thinking that led to Vermeer began late in 1993, shortly after Ferguson had accomplished a consulting project for orchard apple tree on electronic publishing and on-line services. As he thought about his findings over the subsequent months, Ferguson concluded that in that revere were fundamental problems with existing offerings. These services were based on a centraliz ed design and used proprietary technology. C! onsequently, not even were these services extremely expensive to develop (costs ran up to $50 million for complex systems), but they were also incompatible with opposer services. As a result, businesses using these services found themselves locked into a limited set of subscriber-customers. They found it difficult to link into their own internal data-bases because of technological incompatibilities. Besides, they had...If you want to get a proficient essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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