What I saw was a GREat opportunity to provide computing technology in a much more efficient way. That was the core idea of what became Dell Computer Corporation, and it’s one that we’ve stuck with ever since.
I started the business with a simple question: How can we make the process of buying a computer better? The answer was: Sell computers directly to the end customer. 1)Eliminate the reseller’s markup and pass those 2)savings on to the customer.
It hadn’t occured to me that others hadn”t 3)figured this out. I thought it was pretty obvious. I’m sure if I had taken the time to ask, plenty of people would have told me that my idea wouldn’t work - I’ve heard that a lot in the fifteen years since starting the business.
Sometimes it’s better not to ask - or to listen - when people tell you something can’t be done. I didn’t ask for permission or 4)approval. I just went ahead and did it.
On January 2, 1984, I went back to Austin earlier than I would have to attend classes, and I did all the things you need to do to set up a business. I registered the company with the State of Texas as “LC’s Limited” I placed ads in the 5)classified section of our local newspaper.
Through my previous contacts with customers and the small ad I placed in the paper, I was already getting a lot of business. I was selling between $50,000 to $80,000 a month of 6)upgraded PCs, upgrade 7)kits, and add-on components to people in the Austin area. Not too long after starting school, I was able to move from a 8)stuffy dorm that I shared with a roommate to a 9)condominium with high ceilings and two bedrooms. (I didn’t, however, tell my parents for a few months that I had moved.)
In early May, about a week before I took my final exams to complete my freshman year, I 10)incorporated the company as “Dell Computer Corporation,” doing business as “LC’s Limited.” We moved the business from my condo to a 1,000-square-foot office space in a small business center in North Austin. I hired a few people to take orders over the telephone and a few more to fulfill them. Manufacturing consisted of three guys with 11)screwdrivers sitting at six-foot tables upgrading machines. Business continued to grow, and I began to think hard about what the potential could be if I could devote myself to the 12)venture, full-time.
Where I come from, not going to college is not an acceptable 13)option. Convincing my parents to allow me to leave school would have been impossible. So I just went ahead and did it, whatever the 14)consequences. I finished my freshman year, and left.
After a while, my parents forgave me. And a little bit after that, I forgave them, too.
People ask me now, “Were you scared?”Sure.
But it turned out, the 15)timing for PC’s Limited couldn’t have been better.
