In 1982, Ron Gruner, Craig Mundie, and Rich McAndrew founded Alliant
Computer Systems to build parallel supercomputers. Their goal was to build a
machine that used multiprocessing to achieve better performance than the
fastest single-CPU machines, but in a way that was transparent to developers.
In 1985, after 3 years of work, they’d done it, and for the next several years
Alliant was one of the leading players in the turbulent parallel computer industry.
But the company lost its way; Gruner left in 1991 after disagreement about
the company’s direction; and a year later Alliant filed for bankruptcy.
Looking for something to do next, Gruner started a new company at the
opposite end of the spectrum: a web-based service business. His experience as
CEO of Alliant had taught him the importance of investor relations. In 1992, he
founded Shareholder.com with the goal of using technology to automate the
process. Shareholder.com pioneered a new, broader approach toward investor
relations. Shareholder.com grew steadily, and in February 2006 was acquired
by NASDAQ.
Livingston: Give me a little background on your career and how you got started
with Alliant.
Gruner: I’ve really had three jobs in my life, starting with Data General in
1969. I moved up from Oklahoma to Massachusetts to work for Data General,
which got a lot of visibility in the late ’60s, even though it was a very small company.
I started as their 43rd employee and saw them grow to over 15,000 when
I left in 1982.
My background was in computer design. My first half at Data General, I
was an engineer doing most of the work myself, and then in the second half
I was managing most of the time.
Data General was a very entrepreneurial—almost Darwinian—kind of
environment. Ed de Castro and the other founders would try hard to hire the
best, most aggressive people they could find, and then let those people go off
and oftentimes compete on their own.
The book The Soul of a New Machine characterizes that environment fairly
well. It talks about two competing teams—the Eagle Team and the Fountainhead
Team—how they competed internally, and how the Eagle Team eventually won
out because they got to market sooner. I was the head of the Fountainhead
project. Spending 13 years there was a really good background for me to understand
a truly entrepreneurial kind of environment.
I left Data General in the spring of ’82 and, with two other cofounders,
Craig Mundie and Rich McAndrew, I started Alliant Computer Systems. Our
mission was to build very high-performance computer systems that provided a