Essay About Bob Frankston And Electronic Spreadsheet

Natural-Born Entrepreneur
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Natural-Born Entrepreneur
by Dan Bricklin
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September 2001
was lucky. No doubt about it.
In 1979, when my partner, Bob
Frankston, and I created VisiCalc, the
first electronic spreadsheet, we didn’t
realize it would jump-start the
personal computer industry—let
alone revolutionize the way
businesses kept records and
tested financial scenarios.
In the midst of my studies
at Harvard Business School,
I had grown more than a
little frustrated by having
to manually calculate and
recalculate every single
change on a spreadsheet
as I worked through a case
study. There had to be a
better way, I figured, so I started designing
a computer program to address
those inefficiencies. I described my idea
to Bob Frankston, whom I’d met as an
undergraduate at MIT, and he
agreed to try to turn my
primitive prototype into a
working program. After
toiling for several months
in the attic of Bob’s home,
we had a hunch that we
might have something big on
our hands. The rest of the VisiCalc
story is replete with the usual
twists and turns — not to mention
some very difficult downturns. But
that cool little software program
is still regarded as the first killer
Copyright Щ 2001 by Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. 3
by Dan Bricklin
First Person
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN CRAIG
Natural-Born
Entrepreneur
His most famous invention, the computer
spreadsheet, changed the course of business.
But to this entrepreneur, it was no big deal.
He was just doing what came naturally.
app of the PC industry, and, much to
my surprise, I have had to get comfortable
with being famous as “the father of
the electronic spreadsheet.”
Some 20 years and four start-ups
later, I still get my jollies the same way:
by creating tools that solve people’s
everyday problems. I like to think these
are tools that speak to people’s needs,
whether for expressing a personal passion,
such as publishing digital photo albums,
or for solving a practical problem,
such as automating the small-business
budget or prototyping a piece of software.
Times haven’t always been easy.
I’ve lived through a lawsuit, layoffs, two
acquisitions, and a failed start-up. (Let’s
just say that I won’t be endowing any
university buildings or faculty chairs
anytime soon.) But life as an entrepreneur,
professional tinkerer, and technology
and business commentator has
brought me many joys.
Aspiring