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3com
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 9)
SM: One question about your managing the board during that difficult period. What did you learn from that process, and how did the board react positively, negatively, especially looking back today? EB: It was very gutsy on the part of the board to ask me to take the lead on this company. I had never
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 8)
SM: In general, was the workforce at 3Com more aligned with your vision than to Krause’s? EB: It was a split workforce. We had some computer experts, and we had some networking experts. What I ended up doing was to choose one – we could not do both. We built upon our roots at Bridge,
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 7)
Eric takes over as CEO of 3Com, and as a first item of business, makes some hardline choices. SM: What catalyzed the CEO change at 3Com? EB: The board realized something needed to be done. In 1989, my two partners at Bridge, Bill Caraco and Judy Estren, left out of frustration. They realized this was
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 6)
After the merger with 3Com, the company faced some significant internal challenges. There were two opposing business strategies, and clearly only one could be followed. This set the stage for Eric, not yet 35 years old, to become the CEO. SM: Was the 3Com merger when Metcalfe was running it? EB: Bill Krause, Metcalfe was
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 5)
Here Eric details several significant happenings. Not only does he discuss the development of Bridge and the IPO, but also the birth of networking as a recognized market, as well as the merger with 3Com. SM: Where you running Bridge during the IPO? EB: I was not the CEO, but I was one of the
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 4)
SM: You were at Zilog, but their focus was not on networking. EB: Right. We attempted to build a business out of the networking developments. When I say we, I say a few friends who all ended up being significant contributors to the networking industry. They are people like Judy Estrin, Joe Kennedy, Bill Carico,
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 3)
SM: Where did you go after Stanford? EB: The first company that offered me a job was Zilog. They were the second microprocessor company in Silicon Valley; Intel was the first one. The inventor of the microprocessor, Federico Faggin had left Intel and founded Zilog. I joined him about 12 to 18 months after he
Eric Benhamou & the Turnaround of 3Com (Part 2)
Eric discovered, at a very early age, one of the most common attributes of entrepreneurs: “I want to do things my way!” This, however, was not welcome in France, where he was growing up. SM: The old “I am going to do it my way” saying … EB: That’s right. I even started a small
