Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Michael Dell, fully Michael Saul Dell

Founder and CEO Dell Computers

"Believe in what you are doing. If you’ve got an idea that’s really powerful, you’ve just got to ignore the people who tell you it won’t work, and hire people who embrace your vision."

"There’s no risk in preserving the status quo, but there’s no profit, either."

"It's through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we've always mapped our path at Dell. There's always an opportunity to make a difference."

"The open-source collaborative development model, I believe, is built to succeed in the Internet age, and it makes more sense than the proprietary model of some of our competitors."

"People consume information better with their eyes."

"The idea of being all things to all people is a thing of the past."

"Customers are voting with their dollars and their feet today,"

"The best part was the wisdom of the restaurant owner, which I could capture if I came to work a little early. He took great pride in his work and cared about every customer who came through his door."

"I saw that you'd buy a PC for about $3,000, and inside that PC was about $600 worth of parts. IBM would buy most of these parts from other companies, assemble them, and sell the computer to a dealer for $2,000. Then the dealer, who knew very little about selling or supporting computers, would sell it for $3,000, which was even more outrageous."

"Manufacturing jobs today require highly skilled workers who are familiar with computers and technology."

"I think the '90s are going to see a greater integration between the human mind and the computer. Today, you have to communicate with a computer by a keyboard that is somewhat awkward and clumsy. We are working on other ways to do this. The best computer is the one you don't even know is there."

"There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don't spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities."

"The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I’ve learned that it’s possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are; you’re winning."

"One of the things I benefited from when I started this business was that I didn’t know anything. I was just instinct with no preconceived notions. This enabled me to learn and change quickly without having to worry about maintaining any kind of status quo, like some of my bigger competitors."

"Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity."

"Whether you’ve found your calling, or if you’re still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work."

"I realized that the computer market was very inefficient. The markups were incredibly high over the cost of materials and the service was very poor."

"If you have to go through life being unhappy to conform to society around you, that's not a very good deal."

"Visionaries have the unique ability to dream of what's possible and then make it a reality. We are excited to watch these visionaries use technology to help students develop skills in collaboration, critical thinking and teamwork that they'll need to compete in the global economy."

"The idea was to sell computers directly to the end user, without the markup of the dealer ... have a lower level of inventory and a higher level of service."

"The Internet is probably the most significant thing that has come along."

"A lot of these companies are talking about going direct, but few of them are transitioning significant portions of their business to direct... We grew 2.8 times faster than Compaq in servers, 4.8 times faster in notebooks, and 3.2 times faster than Compaq overall."

"All companies use servers of various sizes. Servers represent a disproportionate amount of profit opportunity. That's why we're using our direct marketing model to bring (them to customers), ... Capital Ideas."

"All our businesses are doing exceptionally well in an extremely challenging environment,"

"A lot of the larger customers are looking at the end of February before major rollouts start taking place. We don't know exactly at what rate the turn-on is going to go, but it looks like February is not going to be tremendously strong for the industry."

"Americans are known for their strength, fortitude, and generosity in times of need. We encourage people in the U.S. and everywhere to give with their hearts, reach out to these victims, and donate what they can to the relief efforts."

"But to forecast beyond that... we don't have a lot of confidence in our ability to do that, so we're not going to give any numbers beyond the first quarter,"

"Although Dell is executing well amid weak demand, we remain cautious on Dell given sharply lower IT spending and weakening global economies."

"As important as school was, I found that it could be very disruptive to a steady income."

"As we come to the end of the calendar year, industry conditions remain healthy... Processor and operating system transitions and component cost declines continue to position our industry for strong customer demand."

"Clearly there is some turmoil and confusion out there that can help us out in the near term."

"At the root of it, I was probably just opportunistic. I had and still have a great interest in computers. There was a business opportunity [with] this product that I really liked, and it all kind of lined up together."

"Based on what customers are telling us, we expect sequential industry growth to follow historical trends, Y2K notwithstanding,"

"Currently we have about 9,000 people working from three centers and we intend to double the number by 2009."

"Current softness in industry demand and profit margins is not a secret... But in this environment, the differences between Dell and other major companies are compelling."

"Dell is already a leader in online commerce."

"Don?t be afraid to fail. Get out there and experiment and learn and fail and get a rate based on the experiences you have. Go for it and when you go for it you?ll learn what you?re capable of, what the potential is, where the opportunities are, but you can?t be afraid to fail because that?s when you learn."

"Don't be afraid or run away from technology."

"For the people, the infrastructure and, of course, the incentives played a role."

"During the first half of fiscal 1998, demand remained solid. The top companies have been consolidating their market shares during this period, and Dell has emerged from this environment as a leader in market share growth."

"Gateway experienced a rather strong year-over-year decline; our cost-structure advantage is quite significant; and our consumer business is not only quite profitable, but growing rapidly, ... Our advantage there appears to be expanding."

"I don't expect that the economy is going to come roaring back in one quarter. I think it's going to be a very gradual and gentle recovery. And the fact is, we don't have a way of predicting this with any certainty."

"I dropped out of college because that's what I thought would happen. So, that for me was in 1984 and I started a company around that idea, believing that more and more people would know how to use PCs, that they would become easier to use, that even people could buy them without going to a store. We had a sense for it in the early '80s but certainly couldn't say we imagined it. It is just the way it happened"

"I always knew I wanted to run a business someday."

"From the time I was 7, when I purchased my first calculator, I was fascinated by the idea of a machine that could compute things."

"I was surprised to see IBM's level of competition, ... That's something we haven't seen from them in a long time."

"I had to give it a full go and see what happened. I couldn't resist the opportunity. The deal was, I would start into business full time in May, and at the end of August we would take a look and decide if it was doing well."

"I was, you know, rebellious--an 18, 19-year-old and just did what I wanted to do and all worked out OK."

"If you look at innovation, it doesn't just occur in the lab."

"If we get half the performance in the next couple of years, I'll be happy,"