Remembering Andy Grove - Third and Final Part of the Series

So my final thoughts on Andy Grove came from something he said at an Intel conference I attended at the height of the “dot com” boom. I believe it was in February or March of 2000.

To set the scene, Intel had invited a number of journalists (including myself) to its head offices in Santa Clara to hear the latest on the company’s upcoming product releases. I won’t bother going into the detail of that here, but suffice it to say that – in the course of this briefing – Andy Grove came into the room to talk with us.

In the course of that talk, someone asked about Intel’s approach to making investments in early stage companies. To provide context, Intel had – at that time – made announcements about how it was investing in promising start-ups that it said could enhance the use of Intel’s chip technologies (and the ecosystem in which they were used).

The discussion came around to Intel’s criteria for selecting companies in which they would invest – and the words “exit strategy” came into the conversation. At that point, Andy Grove became very animated and made it abundantly clear that he would not look kindly on any company that approached Intel with an “exit strategy” already planned – so that early stage investors (and founders) could cash out early with a tidy windfall for relatively little work.

Sadly, I was not able to lay my hands on my own notes of that event – but it was not the only time that he clearly articulated this view. In a really excellent 2012 interview on NPR, Andy Grove and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore (yes, the guy after whom “Moore’s Law” is named) looked back on their career together and reflected on exit strategies and many other things.

 

"I really don't have much respect for the people who live their lives motivated by an exit strategy existing, being performed," Grove says in the NPR interview. "There was no option that we were trained in that says, 'If it gets too hard, get up and leave.' "

I would strongly suggest that if you’re curious about how Intel came about – or what made Andy Grove tick professionally – that you not only read the review, but also listen to the audio clips in the interview. It’s really good.

At any rate, what all this boils down to is Andy Grove’s advice: Build something that lasts and that matters. And that sounds like great advice for both life and business.