Terry Cunningham’s Adventures: Crystal and Coral8 (Part 6)

SM: You were about to take Seagate Software public in 1998. What happened next? TC: I made either the dumbest or smartest move ever.

Terry Cunningham’s Adventures: Crystal and Coral8 (Part 5)

SM: With all the companies you merged, what types of people made it through those mergers? TC: They were the ones who could get to the table and arm wrestle over the issues. They could then go for a beer after and have some fun. They didn’t take themselves too seriously, and they understood that

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Terry Cunningham’s Adventures: Crystal and Coral8 (Part 4)

SM: Tell me about selling Crystal to Seagate. Did they come to you? TC: Yes. We were doing our thing out of Vancouver. We had grand visions of being a huge company. I remember thinking if we ever got to $20 million I would die a happy man.

Terry Cunningham’s Adventures: Crystal and Coral8 (Part 3)

SM: Did you have the same business model approach with Microsoft as you had with Borland? TC: Yes. We put some ‘nag ware’ in the product to check for updates. When you started Crystal Reports it said ‘Welcome to Crystal Reports, please register now or later’.

Terry Cunningham’s Adventures: Crystal and Coral8 (Part 2)

SM: What was the first product you built for your customers? TC: We built a little product called Quick Check, which was an instant check writer. The existing accounts payable function only let you write a batch of checks, which was problematic when the courier showed up with a COD. Our little product allowed small

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Terry Cunningham’s Adventures: Crystal and Coral8 (Part 1)

SM: Let’s start by talking about your background. Where are you from? TC: I am from Vancouver, Canada. My family grew up in Montreal and my father moved to the west coast in the 1960s. In Montreal there was a group called the FLQ [Front de libération du Québec] that started to terrorize the city

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Prospering Amidst the Real Estate Meltdown: Trulia CEO Pete Flint (Part 7)

SM: Are you seeing a lot of transactions in very inexpensive real estate? PF: The annualized transaction rate is 5 million units right now. That compares to 7 million at the peak. It is a fairly steady pace. In certain regions 80% of all transactions are distressed, meaning they are either short sales or foreclosures.

Prospering Amidst the Real Estate Meltdown: Trulia CEO Pete Flint (Part 6)

SM: Newspapers are definitely struggling, especially with their top classifieds such as jobs, travel and real estate. PF: That market is absolutely gone for them. Most of it has moved online; some of it has evaporated. Total spend has come down. We provide free to list.