Quote · Planet Money
We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?
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Lesson 2: Too Much Money, Too Many Investors
At 17:26 · chapter starts 16:40
The second failure mode Epstein identifies is excess capital and an overwhelming investor syndicate. General Magic attracted money from Sony, AT&T, Motorola, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Apple, and Philips — effectively the entire communications technology industry. [1] — David Epstein "General Magic's investors included Apple, AT&T, Sony, Motorola, Panasonic, and more. Their investor meetings required an antitrust lawyer t…" 15:40 So many competing companies were in the room that investor meetings had to open with an antitrust lawyer listing topics that couldn't be discussed. The investors created expectation and lock-in: General Magic was committed to a product vision long before it understood whether that vision was right. Epstein's prescription is counterintuitive — the company would have been better served by staying very small and lean for years, letting the costs stay contained while the team figured out what they were actually building before the financial commitments spiraled.
General Magic had visionary leaders but no managers. Without anyone setting priorities or saying no, engineer Steve Perlman spent enormous time expanding a simple calendar function — from a 4-line task into code covering from the Big Bang to the future. Because they could, they did.
