<story><title>How We Hit $912 Million in Sales</title><url>http://www.inc.com/magazine/201307/christine-lagorio/jack-dangermond-how-he-started-esri.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>npalli</author><text>He started with $1000 and grew to $912 Million over 43 years. That&amp;#x27;s compounding annually at 38% percent. I was surprised that after 43 years it is still under a billion. Just goes to show how big a billion dollars is :-).&lt;p&gt;He must also really really love his space and company, nowadays when companies are flipped in 43 weeks, he is going on for 43 years. Wow, that&amp;#x27;s some dedication and calls for a very difficult temperament and set of skills.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bobwaycott</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Just goes to show how big a billion dollars is...&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a boy, my grandfather once wanted to impress upon me the astronomical nature (or so it seemed at such a young age) of large numbers (especially in reference to government budgets).&lt;p&gt;At first, I couldn&amp;#x27;t believe it when he told me that if I spent $1&amp;#x2F;second, I&amp;#x27;d blow through $1M in just under 12 days (11.5 to be more precise, with rounding).&lt;p&gt;But it was when he told me that spending through $1B at the same rate would take me nearly 32 years that I realized that was a ridiculously large sum of money.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve never forgotten that lesson. I also walked away deviously thinking the best goal I could shoot for in life was to figure out how to earn $1&amp;#x2F;second.</text></comment>
<story><title>How We Hit $912 Million in Sales</title><url>http://www.inc.com/magazine/201307/christine-lagorio/jack-dangermond-how-he-started-esri.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>npalli</author><text>He started with $1000 and grew to $912 Million over 43 years. That&amp;#x27;s compounding annually at 38% percent. I was surprised that after 43 years it is still under a billion. Just goes to show how big a billion dollars is :-).&lt;p&gt;He must also really really love his space and company, nowadays when companies are flipped in 43 weeks, he is going on for 43 years. Wow, that&amp;#x27;s some dedication and calls for a very difficult temperament and set of skills.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>beachstartup</author><text>&amp;gt; He started with $1000 and grew to $912 Million over 43 years&lt;p&gt;try measuring the cumulative revenue over those 43 years, i.e. the integral instead of the first derivative.</text></comment>