Msg: 3645 *Conference*
12-26-92 00:31:52
From: RICHARD HANSON
To : CARL VOGEL
Subj: REPLY TO MSG #3643 (MEMORY CHIPS)
Okay, okay... let go of my arm. I'll squeal... I'll tell you everything you want to know, just don't break my arm. So now you know that Purple Computing (Larry and Ardel) made it big in the chip business, moved to Oregon, and continued to profit in the Model 100 marketplace. They also cornered the market on TTXpress printers and made yet another killing. They were also very good friends with Mark Eppley, president and founder of Traveling Software. It was Larry and Mark who put their heads together and invented Booster Pak. Larry builds them, one at a time, by hand. Okay, so now we come to 1989. The Model 100 marketplace is almost totally dead. Everyone who used to be in the market, left; and for good reason. The MS-DOS based laptops took the business. However, I "knew" the importance of the Model 100 in the history of personal computing, and "saw" the gaping hole in the marketplace. In August, 1989, I called Mark Eppley and made him an offer he couldn't refuse, i.e., to take over all manufacturing, sales and support of his product line, and pay him a royalty for every unit sold. I intended to revive the line for the sake of all Model 100 users. It was a long shot but I played it. Well, Mark said he'd get back to me but every month from then on I called, faxed and e-mailed my pledge; my offer. Mark was interested but was uncertain about my abilities to handle the load. So, as the story goes, he call a lot of other folks and made presented my offer to all of them. all but one simply offered to take his existing inventory and dump it. That "one" was Ultrasoft Inovations, Richard Eckerland, president and founder. By now it was almost December, 1989 and I keep on them. But, due to Mark's schedule, I was corrisponding with the Traveling's CFO, David Paine. David liked my idea and was on my side all the way. Well, push came to shove as I started to lay it on thick. I was calling every month, and faxing and e-mailing my readiness to start what I said I would do. I was putting the pressure on as heavy as I knew how. It was then, that Mark went to lunch with his long time business friend and buddy, Larry Berg. At that lunch, Mark posed the question of letting either Ultrasoft or Club 100 take over the line. And, with Larry's encouragement towards us vs. Ultrasoft--based on past, not-so-great dealings with Richard Eckerland--Mark decided to give us the deal. In 1990 we took over the old, great Traveling Software line. And I owe it all to a lunch between Mark and Larry, my constant in-your-face and ready-to-go attitude, vs. past not-so-good dealings with Ultrasoft. So, there you go. That's the story. But of course, I didn't know these dynamics until about a year later when Larry and I were shooting the bull on the phone one day. And the rest is history. Gaining the Traveling Software line took Club 100 from a user group supported out of my pocket, and just about to fold, to doing over $100,000 in gross orders a year since then. That's gross, not net, of course. Interesting story, huh? It's true, too! -Rick-