I started the business with a simple question: how can we make the process of buying a computer better? The answer was: sell the computer directly to the end customers. Eliminate the reseller’s markup and pass the savings on to the customers.
It hadn’t occurred to me that others hadn’t figured it out. I thought it was pretty obvious. I am sure if I had taken the time to ask, plenty of people would have told me that my idea wouldn’t work -- I have 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 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 “PC’s Limited.” I placed ads in the classified section in our local newspaper.
Through my previous contract with customers and the small ads I placed in the paper, I was already getting a lot of business. I was selling between $50,000 to $80,000 upgraded PCs, upgrade kits, and add-on computer components to people in Austin area. Not long after starting the classes I was able to move from a stuffy room that I shared with a roommate to a condominium with high ceilings and two bedrooms. I didn’t, however, tell my parents for a few months that I moved.
In early May, about a week before I took my final exam to complete my freshman year, I incorporated the company as “Dell Computer Corporation,” doing business as “PC’s Limited.” We moved the business from my condo to a 1000-square-foot office space in a small business center in North Austin. I hired a few people to take orders over telephone and a few more to fulfill them. Manufacturing consisted of three guys with screwdrivers sitting at six-foot tables upgrading machines. Business continued to grow, and I began to think of what the potential could be if I could devote myself to the venture, full-time.
Where I came from, not going to the college is not an acceptable option. Convincing my parents to allow me to leave school would have been impossible. So I just went ahead and did it, whatever the 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 asked me now, “Were you scared?” Sure.
But it turned out, the timing for “PC’s Limited” couldn’t have been better.
当时我看到,以更有效的方式提供电脑技术是一个巨大的商机;那后来成了戴尔公司的核心理念,一直奉行至今;
我是从一个简单的问题开始创业的:如何使购买电脑更便捷?答案是:直接把电脑卖给终端用户,去除分销商的加价,并把省下的钱还给用户;
当时我并不知道其他人没有意识到这一点;在我看来,那是相当明显的;我确信如果我当时花时间去问别人的话,会有很多人说我的想法行不通——创业后15年间我听过许多这样的话;
当别人告诉你某事行不通的时候,有时不闻不问是更好的办法;我就没有去征求别人的许可和赞同;我只是一往直前地去做了;
1984年1月2日,我开学前一点回到了奥斯汀(得克萨斯州首府),我做好了成立新公司的前期准备;我向得克萨斯州注册了“个人电脑有限公司”,还在当地报纸的分类广告版面上登了广告;
通过我与客户签订的预售合同以及在报纸上的小广告,当时我已经接到了很多业务;我在奥斯汀地区出售升级电脑;升级工具;电脑配件,月销售额达到5万到8万美元之间;开学后不久,我便从和室友共住的闷热宿舍搬出来,住进了一个高顶双卧的公寓套间;(然而,我是在好几个月后才把搬家的事情告诉父母的)
5月初,大约是我大学一年级期末考试前一周吧,我将公司改组为“戴尔电脑公司”,业务和原来公司一样;公司的办公地点也从我的公寓搬到了奥斯汀北部一个小型写字楼里,面积1000平方英尺;我雇了些人接电话订单,还有一些人负责配送;生产部有3个人,拿着螺丝起子坐在6英尺长的桌子旁升级电脑;业务逐渐扩大,我也开始考虑如果我全身心扑在生意上,公司还有多大潜力;
不上大学在我的家乡是难以被接受的,要说服父母同意我辍学几乎不可能;于是我只好毅然不顾地我行我素;在念完一年级以后,我辍学了;
不久,我父母原谅了我;再不久,我也原谅了他们;
人们现在问我:“你当时害怕吗?”当然害怕;
而结果证明,那个时机成立“个人电脑有限公司”再好不过
