(Remembering in the very early 90’s, a big pitch at Microsoft, and Len Pacheco p

(Remembering in the very early 90’s, a big pitch at Microsoft, and Len Pacheco pushing me into (a) an 8:00am pitch – a bad idea, and (b) a project I thought we would fail at delivering, (c) a project – as was common – Microsoft wanted to pursue, but In my opinion was not in the company’s interest. And I am not and never have been enough of a whore to take money from a customer, and work long hours, for the sake of making money alone. So I was honest during the pitch, and not happy about being there, and clear about it, and we lost the sale, and the project was killed. And the rest of the management team was furious with me. And I simply didn’t care. It’s not like we were in ‘eating bugs’ mode. And why lose a 50M client, or even take the risk of it, and burn our staff, when it’s not in the customer’s interest? Hell, I told MSFT people that ideas were bad on a regular fucking basis. They don’t like it at the time. But you know. The ones who do like it eventually are the only customers you want to have. And they are the people whose careers you can advance. I realize there are bug eaters out there. But I want to always be the guy with the highest prices and the best reputation for success. And I am not sure I care whether people like me or not. I’m simply not that likable. My job is and always has been, to be right. Being likable is a commodity. Being right is a scarcity. You can charge for both, but you will end up being likable and cheap and right and expensive, and I would rather be expensive. High investment in customers. High investment in spouses. High investment in children. High investment in yourself. )