Interviewing the CEO of the $200BN Tech Company the World Forgot About...

In episode #05 of Tahoe Minds, a very special guest joins me to discuss his career, Scott McNealy. Scott and his company, Sun Microsystems, popularized the concept of network computing, created the programming language, Java, and provided all of the back end servers for the internet for the 30+ years they operated, before being bought out by Oracle.
Scott and I discuss the great tech giants like Bill Gates & Steve Balmer, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison, and he reflects on how his college days at Harvard and MBA days at Stanford caused him to fall behind the rest of the greats, who opted out early to work on their companies. We talk about his strategies for transitioning from entrepreneur to CEO, and managing such a large amount of employees through his outstanding and long lasting corporate culture.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Why Scott hates Harvard and Stanford
10:53 - The beginnings of Sun Microsystems and management strategies
23:01 - Sun's culture and why Scott left
30:05 - Startup's today
32:39 - Open source and competition
40:38 - Dot Com Bubble and Sun's sale to Oracle
45:19 - Golf, Hockey, and what Scott does now

[@bkurysh]

I can proudly say that I was Sun Microsystems employee! Loved it 👍🏻

[@willsnow999]

Sun Microsystems was an engineer's company. I loved my time there. Amazing culture, amazing group of people that always questioned the status quo.

[@nfales7278]

I loved my time at Sun Microsystems in Colorado and Scott you were the best leader. Kick butt and have fun! I will never forget that. ❤

[@kanyewest1008]

Scott is an absolute legend. He should be right up there with Ellison, Gates, Jobs, and Balmer.

[@marieorama]

At the top!

[@mjsps51]

Scott, you’re a great man and leader by example. I am proud to say I worked for Sun Microsystems. Thank you.

[@marieorama]

Best company I’ve worked for. So innovative, great culture, and knew how to pick the the talent!

[@StefanHorneborg-l4p]

Best company ever. Lot's of CEOs should listen to Scott. Loved working for Scott at Sun in Munich.

[@mjsps51]

23 years for me, even though Oracle took over for part of that.

[@mjsps51]

The best employer I ever had.

[@nacshhuh.2629]

Outstanding

[@harryw50]

It was the best place I worked 1997-2009