What is Anderson‘s background, and where does he get off talking about things like biochemistry and physics?
A. My background is in science: I took a BS and MS in Marine Biology and Marine Biochemistry at Stanford, and then did additional Ph.D. work at the University of British Columbia on Biochemical Ecology, before deciding that my dream of academic research was not well-grounded in a deep understanding of my own acerbic and erratic personality. In other words, business looked better. I did learn to program an IBM 360 to do Traveling Salesman puzzles at midnight during this period, but the real programming came later with PCs, when I started two software companies, which grew into a 37-product vertical market operation just before I blew it up by trying to do what even IBM failed to do: produce re-usable modules for small-midsize business software customization. I then started a strategy consulting company (Technology Alliance Partners), and had the good luck to work for some great software and telecoms companies, like Aldus (Adobe) and McCaw, at a time when DNA was not being exchanged betw
