SAS institute is one of those rare companies where the founders did not sell or go public, but still created a hugely valuable business. Just comes to show that there are other routes you can take with your startup and be successful with enough hard work and preserverance.
Whoever wrote the article is an ass:<p><i>Although still a desktop software product, JMP is so robust today that the latest, version 8, can display graphically millions of rows of data.</i><p>Although?? It's a desktop software product because the desktop is <i>powerful</i>. The personal computer you have under your desk is a very powerful machine. It's a shame that a lot of software moves as slowly as molasses and isn't coded with performance in mind.<p>:/
In a similar vein, I've always admired D. E. Shaw. who still publishes single author theory papers.<p><a href="http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110562316/abstract" rel="nofollow">http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110562316/abstrac...</a>
What does it mean when the article says "perhaps we can credit it to his Midwestern roots for his drive"? I've never lived in America long enough to understand the differences between Americans from different parts. Anyone willing to give me a crash course?
Interestingly,<p><i>An executive vice-president at SAS, Sall remains JMP's chief architect, running a team of 100, including 20 developers</i><p>What are the other 80 people on the team doing if not writing code!?
In Michael Lewis' "The New New Thing", he describes how Jim Clarke, Netscape co-founder was up at 3AM scribbling math equations on how his mega-yacht could have a convincing CG nautical compass. The book has a picture of this crumpled napkin, which is fascinating.
On the same note, queen's guitar player, Brian May, is also an astrophysicist:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May#As_an_astrophysicist" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May#As_an_astrophysicist</a>
This is a good article that describes the company (SAS) and their culture:<p><a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/21/sanity.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/21/sanity.html</a>