Remove Lean Remove Programming Remove SBIC Remove Venture Capital
article thumbnail

The Secret History of Silicon Valley 12: The Rise of “Risk Capital.

Steve Blank

Ampex’s first customer was Bing Crosby who wanted to record his radio programs for rebroadcast (and had exclusive distribution rights.) The Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Act in 1958 guaranteed that for every dollar a bank or financial institution invested in a new company, the U.S. In response, one of the many U.S.

article thumbnail

The Secret History of Silicon Valley Part IX: Entrepreneurship in.

Steve Blank

ELINT Tasking The ELINT program sought answers to operational questions like: What was the Radar Order of Battle a penetrating bomber would face? Venture Capital, Microwaves and the OSS Dean Watkins the leader of TWT research at Stanford’s Electronic Laboratory, left Stanford in 1957 and co-founded Watkins-Johnson (with R.H.