ADVENTURES OF AN ENTREPRENEUR AND CONTROVERSIAL ESSAYS
and
Controversial Essays
Second Edition
WAR STORIES FROM AMERICAN INDUSTRY
and
ESSAYS ABOUT BUSINESS, CULTURE, POLITICS, AND PEOPLE
By
Lawrence Kamm
Published by:
The author, Lawrence Kamm, is an electrical, electro-mechanical, and mechanical engineering consultant, author, and expert witness. He holds 38 patents and has started four small companies. For more about him, see the mini-resume at the end of this book and http://www.ljkamm.com/resume.htm.
Introduction
Benjamin Franklin said, "Experience keeps a dear school, but some will learn from no other." Perhaps.
If I had taken an MBA before becoming an entrepreneur I would have done many things better.
But if I had taken an MBA I would have known better than to start my businesses with insufficient capital, no competent team members, and no real understanding of my markets or of marketing.
But if I had taken an MBA my businesses would have made me rich instead of merely comfortable.
But if I had taken an MBA instead of the plunge, and not started unwise businesses, I would have retired on an employed engineer's pension instead of an entrepreneur's capital gains.
This is not an autobiography; there is a mini-resume at the back of the book.. The book is a collection of true anecdotes from industry - "war stories" - and essays, mostly about business. If you are a present or future entrepreneur these stories and essays may amuse you and may also benefit you by helping you to copy - or to avoid - what I did.
Some of these stories describe my experiences in the businesses I started and ran, some describe in-house entrepreneurial projects when an employee, and some tell of businesses which died a- borning. All teach lessons. Some essays derive from my entrepreneurial experiences and may be helpful to you and some essays are merely proposals which the world will not jump to adopt but which may entertain you or even stimulate your own thoughts.
Essays marked * are reprinted with the permission of Electronic Design Magazine, a Penton Media Inc. publication, where they appeared as my columns in the Real World Engineering section, or are adapted from the original columns.
A toast: Here's capital gains to you!
Table of Contents
Part 1. The Adventures
Story No.
- 1. My Public Company
- 2. Safety Shrugged Off - Too Expensive
- 3. Corporate Politics Breaks A Tool
- 4. Reverse Persuasion Saves An Eye
- 5. Moonlight Recruiting
- 6. My First Employee, Hired And Fired!
- 7. My Big Loser, And The Court
- 8. Another Loser, And A lesson In Responsibility
- 9. Management Discipline
- 10. A Grand Parlay
- 11. Beating The Auditors
- 12. Honest Time Keeping
- 13. A Cost Reduction Proposal Bites The Dust
- 14. In-House Entrepreneuring
- 15. The Bootleg Convair/Air Force Function Generator Contract
- 16. An Accounting Shortcut Kills A Company
- 17. The Slave Market
- 18. When People Change, Change The People
- 19. Middle Managers: I Blew It Three Times
- 20. My Ideal Customer
- 21. Stupid, Mulish, Or Both?
- 22. The Decimal Keeper Slide Rule
- 23. Every Knock Is A Boost
- 24. Bean Counters
- 25. A Tragedy Of Righteous Discipline
- 26. Business Plans
- 27. A Disaster
- 28. Quality Control
- 29. Saving An Industry
- 30. Anticipating Lawsuits
- 31. Product Robustness
- 32. Ethics: Whistle Blowing
- 33. The Ethics Entrepreneurs
- 34. Ethics Can Also Be A winner
- 35. An Industry For National Pride
- 36. A Non-Starter
- 37. Crooks In Public Service
- 38. My Best Marketing Lesson
- 39. Advertising
- 40. The President s Secretary Ploy
- 41. Bigger Companies Employ Bigger Crooks
- 42. Another Crook Mode
- 43. Extortion
- 44. Losses In A Storm
- 45. Sales Reps: The Good And The Bad
- 46. Employed Salesmen: The Good And The Bad
- 47. Quality Prospects
- 48. Terms & Conditions
- 49. The Sneaky Spec.
- 50. Fun After Acquisition
- 51. Sadness After Acquisition
- 52. Our Corporate Nut
- 53. A Failed Enterprise (not mine!)
- 54. Convertible Middle Managers
- 55. Entrepreneurial Volunteerism
- 56. Teaching Planning
- 57. Land Mines And Archaeologists
- 58. Demining The Third World.
- 59. Big Machines Made By A Small Business
- 60. Writing Persuasive English. Ho, Hum.
- 61. A Crook In The Toy Business
- 62. An Industrial Accident
- 63. Don t Fake It
- 64. Lost Publicity
- 65. The Bootleg Heart-Lung Machine
- 66. In-House Entrepreneurial Proposal Aborted
- 67. My Mentor
- 68. Another Entrepreneurial Parlay
- 69. Analysts and Synthesists
- 70. Detroit Fiascos
- 71. Remote Maintenance
- 72. Cosmetic Design
- 73 Inventing And Entrepreneuring
- 74. The Post Office Letter Sorter
- 75. Lawyers
- 76. Expert Witnesses
- 77. Two Abortive Businesses
- 78. Conclusions
Part 2. The Essays Essay No.
- 1. Entrepreneuring: Doing It On A Shoestring*
- 2. Science Fiction vs. Business Facts
- 3. The Rate Of Growth Of A Technology
- 4.. How To Improve Our Universities*
- 5. Treason*
- 6. Whistle Blowing: Should I? And How To Do It Safely*
- 7. A Contrarian View Of The Internet: Newer Tech Is Not Always Better Tech*
- 8. Economics Is A Branch Of Psychology
- 9. Ethics, Morality, And Fairness*
- 10. Energy Without Pollution*
- 11. Motivation and Management
- 12. Truth And Belief
- 13. Mule-isms
- 14. Factions
- 15. English For Nerds
- 16. How To Enforce Government Regulations
- 17. The Consumer s Special Interest Group
- 18. Big Cities Are Obsolete
- 19. Correcting The Capital Gains Tax
- 20 . The Business Cycle Ended By Computer?
- 21. How Congress Can Balance The Budget
- 22. The Errors Of Aristotle In Business Decisions
- 23. Selective Neglect: To Play Office
- 24. Engineering And Science
- 25. Easing your Airport Luggage Handling
- 26. Solo Entrepreneurial Businesses
- 27. The Author s Mini-Resume
This is a book of amusing and instructive anecdotes about the business career of Larry Kamm as an entrepreneur and his encounters with investors, crooks, investment bankers, MBA, marketing, losing and winning, and final success. It is not a textbook on How To Succeed In Business but it illustrates the lessons Kamm learned and how he would do it again - but better! Aspiring entrepreneurs will find it a valuable read with many lessons and much guidance, all told in an easy reading conversational style.
In semi-retirement Kamm, a compulsive worker, is now an author, consulting engineer and expert witness. http://www.ljkamm.com. To communicate with him: ljkamm@ljkamm.com.
- Lawrence Kamm
- 1515 Chatsworth Blvd
- San Diego CA 92107
- 619-224-3494
|
Lawrence Kamm
Licensed Prof. Engr.
B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering
"I calls 'em as I sees 'em"
phone: 619-224-3494
fax: 619-224-3495
LJKAMM@LJKAMM.COM
1515 Chatsworth Blvd.
San Diego CA 92107
|
