BY KELLY DOLAN, EDITOR
On 27th February, Dr Mike Lynch stood in front of hundreds of business owners, investors and corporates at the Entrepreneur Country Forum to give his first public speech since the HP/Autonomy rift that became last year’s biggest tech scandal. Yet, instead of getting up and fighting his corner with a team of lawyers in tow, Lynch spoke from the heart from the minute he took to the stand, taking the audience on a humbling journey loaded with nuggets of wisdom on how he has achieved the success he has to date. Likewise, in my interview with Mike, he is candid, incredibly open and no question seems to be off limits. We ignite the conversation by starting right at the very beginning, where Mike runs me through his family upbringing and how it helped to mould his future path.
“My father was a fireman and my mother was a nurse, so it was a very encouraging background,” he tells me, “We weren’t particularly well off and education was highly prized, so a lot of effort was made to do things which widened our view of the world, such as taking us out to museums at the weekends, which was great and got a real interest and enthusiasm going.
“I also think feeling slightly like an outsider – [Mike was born in Ireland and his parents are Irish-descent, later moving to the UK] – tends to make you look at the world a bit differently and can be very useful in making you understand how the world is going to be different in the future.”
Emphasis on education and constant encouragement from two working class parents saw Mike take an academic approach to all areas of his life, beginning with his first job as a hospital porter. “That was a great job because you see the whole of human life; you really see the arc of existence; you understand the realities of people’s lives, and it is a very solid base from which to move forward.” Mike then went on to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge University and instantly took a keen interest in computers, as well as advanced physics, mathematics and biochemistry. Upon graduating, Mike went on to complete a PhD in signal processing and communications research and dabbled in a number of entrepreneurial ventures, such as producing designs and audio products for the music recording industry with Lynett Systems Ltd as well as setting up Cambridge Neurodynamics in 1991, which specialised in computer- based finger print recognition. Then, as a spin off from this company and after realising that “computers could solve problems” Lynch set up Autonomy in 1996.
“I set up Autonomy after being introduced to an eccentric who lent me £2000, but apart from that the whole thing had to be pulled off from its bootstraps. I then found a small office meant for one person as it was all I could afford at the time and had to cram a team of 9 in there.
“Luckily the office manager was nice and avoided coming 10 entrepreneurcountry
by our office because he knew we were breaking the rules. The only problem we had was that customers didn’t like our office but we were saved by a broom cupboard which we put a sign on reading ‘authorised personnel only’, which is actually now a tradition to look like there’s 500 engineers behind the office cupboard door!
“Luckily we were idiots in the beginning who didn’t see the problems; we just got on with starting the business. I see business advice about how everything has to be done properly but this is devastating to a start-up – the definition of ‘properly’ to me is the justification people use when they don’t know why they are doing something. You hear things like ‘you have to do it like this because its market practice‘ but market practice to me means ‘this is where we screw you.’”
Mike then mentions a key lesson that has stayed with him even now. “For me, despite the hardship of launching your own start-up the most important thing you need to do is maintain focus. People will tell you all the things you’re meant to be doing when you are growing a business but you need to remember sales is number one. People only want to talk in board meetings about things that are immediately achievable and that’s not productive.
“Luckily we were idiots in the beginning who didn’t see the problems; we just got on with starting the business”
“Another piece of advice if you’re launching a start-up is to always bring a gun to a knife fight. Never compete on fair terms and don’t start a business until you have an unfair advantage. When Autonomy was growing we could have said ‘We are like Google’ but that’s not our fight. I still meet companies who define themselves by their competition, but you need to define yourselves as you!”
On the subject of having an unfair advantage as a start-up, Mike went on to describe how vital vision was in the realm of technology, and that in fact Autonomy was bought by Hewlett Packard because of their visionary mindset on 18 August 2011 for $11.1bn. The transaction was unanimously approved by the board of directors of both HP and Autonomy and on 3 October 2011 HP closed the deal with over 87% of Autonomy shares acquired. However, in May 2012 Mike left his role as Autonomy’s CEO, stating it was the lack of vision within HP that caused his departure.
“Working with HP was an affirmation that I am so pleased I did not enter corporate life after university,” he says. “Autonomy was bought through its vision - HP wanted to take it away from the dying PC business, but now the vision
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58