No. 007 · 1977 · Santa Clara

Oracle

Read IBM's paper. Shipped it first. Called it Version 2.

Database empire

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Make my startup a legend
  1. 1 IBM publishes how databases should work.
  2. 2 IBM doesn't rush to build it.
  3. 3 Three engineers: $2,000 in the bank.
  4. 4 Name borrowed from a CIA project.
  5. 5 Problem: nobody buys Version 1.
  6. 6 Solution: skip it. Ship Version 2.
  7. 7 Customers feel safe.
  8. 8 Sales-led growth, perfected.
Founders
Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates
Founded
1977, Santa Clara
What they do
Databases and enterprise cloud software.

The story

Ellison read Edgar Codd's IBM paper on relational databases and saw that IBM was moving slowly. His team shipped a commercial version first, and called it Version 2 because nobody trusts a Version 1.