Silicon Valley — a Personal View

D. B. LeesonNov. 21, 2015 ©

A Central Role of Radio

1960

2015

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Things Get Bigger Faster Here

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1984 2016

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! Culture of youth, entrepreneurship, collaboration› OK to risk, change jobs, fail› Reliance on youth to manage› Employees as owners› Rely on local support industry

! History of venture finance› Sponsors reinvest & mentor

! Stanford-industry partnership› Technology and entrepreneurship

! Climate & Land: room to grow! Defense & NASA seed funding! 100-year history of success

› Over many product life cycles

Regional Advantage: No Secret

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“You’re Too Young to Manage”! Wild West: The young and restless! “Too young to be CEO”

› Noyce: Fairchild ! Intel› Jacobs: M/A-COM ! Qualcomm

! Well-known stories› Steve Jobs: Apple› Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook

! “Too young to manage” — my own experience› Hughes Aircraft: “Be 35 before you can run a group”› HP & others: “We have managers, need engineers”› Bell Labs: “You don’t fit the culture here”› Applied Technology: Bring in former bosses to manage› Found company at 31, public CEO at 35

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Patents — West v. East! Federal Electric Poulsen arc v. Marconi spark WWI! RCA 1919 monopoly pool Marconi & AT&T patents

› No tubes for radio competitors› Lawsuits for tube competitors

! “Defiant West” — Inventing ways around patents› Heintz 1926: “Gammatron” avoids RCA for maritime› Farnsworth 1927: Television vs. RCA, Varian works here› Litton 1932: Glass lathe for volume tube production› RCA sues Heintz and loses 1931› EIMAC 1934: Tubes for hams, 2M WWII radar tubes› EIMAC sues RCA and wins 1947

! Stanford microwave: Hansen, Varian 1935-38! Stanford instruments: Hewlett 1938

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Radio in the San Francisco Area! Maritime and Transpacific radio! Broadcasting! Vacuum tubes

› Marconi patents ! RCA patents• West coast figures a way around them• Radio amateurs lead the way

– Terman 6AE, Litton 6AF, Hoover, Jr. 6XH, Heintz 6RH, Eitel W6CH,McCullough W6CUF

! Microwave tubes and Radar› WWII Radar — 2 million tubes from Eimac› Postwar: Patent-free technology, Pacific-war technologists

! Cellular Telephones! WiFi and Bluetooth

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How Stanford Got Big! Great Depression:

› “Third Class University”! Hansen & Varian

› Patents: Microwave resonator, Klystron, radar 1937› Sperry: Corporate funding

• Litton’s $1,000 ! Terman ! Packard› WWII radar: MIT Rad Lab & Sperry NY› Postwar: Hansen invents NMR & linear accelerator› Varian Associates: Hansen’s role 1948

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! Great Depression:› “Third Class University”

! Hansen & Varian› Patents: Microwave resonator, Klystron, radar 1937› Sperry: Corporate funding

• Litton’s $1,000 ! Terman ! Packard› WWII radar: MIT Rad Lab & Sperry NY› Postwar: Hansen invents NMR & linear accelerator› Varian Associates: Hansen’s role 1948

! Terman: “Father of Silicon Valley”› Radio: The future of engineering› WWII: Classified Radio Res. Lab at Harvard› Postwar: Brings govt. radar & microwave funding

! Stanford emerges: International research university

How Stanford Got Big

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Amateur Radio and Silicon Valley! Amateur Radio: Licensed Service World-Wide

› Technological advancement: Hands-on, practical• The original electronics maker culture

› International goodwill• HF, Digital, Sat, EME: Meet stimulating people world-wide

› Emergency communications: Infrastructure-free• Exercises & competition: Develop skills to be ready

! Stanford Amateur Radio Club — W6YX› Long history on cutting edge, famous names› World-class facility: Big antennas, dedicated building› Direct student access to Faculty & Silicon Valley affiliates

• New cadre of licensees from EE class› Time of change: New beginnings & ripe opportunities

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Wireless in Silicon Valley Life Cycles! Radio & vacuum tubes! Radar: 2,000,000 tubes! Microwave! Particle accelerators! Silicon & Moore’s Law! Computers! Ethernet & Internet

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Wireless in Silicon Valley Life Cycles! Radio & vacuum tubes! Radar: 2,000,000 tubes! Microwave! Particle accelerators! Silicon & Moore’s Law! Computers! Ethernet & Internet! Cellphones & WiFi

› More devices than people!! Applications

› Google, Facebook

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! Radio! 1941! Amateur radio 1952-

› Communications >> transportation! Hughes Aircraft: Radar and spacecraft 1955-64

My Journey to Silicon Valley

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! Radio! 1941! Amateur radio 1952-

› Communications >> transportation! Hughes Aircraft: Radar and spacecraft 1955-64! Caltech 1954-58, MIT 1958-59, Stanford 1959-62

› Consulting & design —RadioScience Lab, Vega

My Journey to Silicon Valley

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! Radio! 1941! Amateur radio 1952-

› Communications >> transportation! Hughes Aircraft: Radar and spacecraft 1955-64! Caltech 1954-58, MIT 1958-59, Stanford 1959-62

› Consulting & design —RadioScience Lab, Vega! Radar countermeasures startup ATI 1964-68

› Phase noise journal papers 1964-66

My Journey to Silicon Valley

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! Radio! 1941! Amateur radio 1952-

› Communications >> transportation! Hughes Aircraft: Radar and spacecraft 1955-64! Caltech 1954-58, MIT 1958-59, Stanford 1959-62

› Consulting & design —RadioScience Lab, Vega! Radar countermeasures startup ATI 1964-68

› Phase noise journal papers 1964-66! California Microwave, Inc. 1968-1993

› Infrastructure: Radar, microwave, satellite, WiFi› Fund startups to acquire growth

My Journey to Silicon Valley

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! Radio! 1941! Amateur radio 1952-

› Communications >> transportation! Hughes Aircraft: Radar and spacecraft 1955-64! Caltech 1954-58, MIT 1958-59, Stanford 1959-62

› Consulting & design —RadioScience Lab, Vega! Radar countermeasures startup ATI 1964-68

› Phase noise journal papers 1964-66! California Microwave, Inc. 1968-1993

› Infrastructure: Radar, microwave, satellite, WiFi› Fund startups to acquire growth

! Stanford 1993-› 802.11 WiFi, teaching, angel investments

My Journey to Silicon Valley

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Early Lessons from Amateur Radio! 1950’s: Pacifico Radio Club K6BAG

› Teen-age projects & management› The original maker culture

K6BAG/6 1954

W6QHS 1956

W6QHS 1954

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! “Got the Radio Club rig on forradar, meteor, SSB research”

! Buyer: EIMAC tubes, HP prototype! Terman protégé, my mentor

› Attracted me to Stanford› Built equipment for him› Placed me with startup ‘64

! Blank check to me 1968› “Don’t put in more than $250,000”› Investors: Living rooms, single round› A company overnight!

Mike Villard’s Blank Check 1968

O. G. Villard, W6QYT

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From Individuals to Sand Hill Road! Stanford profs, venture investors and founders

› Villard, Terman, others› Pitch Johnson, Reid Dennis, others› Founders paid, no free ride

! Other angel examples› Bechtolsheim funds Google› Markula funds Apple

! Sand Hill Road firms› Now institutionalized› Silicon Valley still unique

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Dave Packard’s Drill Press! “Ham radio at Stanford led to Hewlett-Packard”! Dinner at Packard’s — Drill demo in garage

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Packard, Hewlett, Gates

Dave Packard’s Drill Press! “Ham radio at Stanford led to Hewlett-Packard”! Dinner at Packard’s — Drill demo in garage

Packard, Terman, Hewlett

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California Microwave! Wireless Infrastructure! Founded 1968! Low noise source 1968! Radar 1969! Microwave radio 1972! Satellite 1976! Avionics 1979! Drones 1980! WiFi 1991! Retired 1993! Now L-3, Northrup

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Cal Microwave and the Big Fruit Can! Contract for Doppler radar equipment

› Company only a few months old› Families and friends to look bigger

! We need radar target for testing› Libby’s Fruit Sunnyvale water tower

! In Moffatt Field landing pattern› Pilots didn’t like to be tracked by radar› Navy: “Turn it off!”

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No Suits and Ties in Silicon Valley! Bidding satellite gear to east-coast system prime! They visit for inspection! We show our stuff, describe how we’ll do it! They award contract to another east-coast outfit! We ask why?! “Well, you weren’t serious or respectful, you

didn’t wear suits and ties”

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Racing Lessons Apply to Business! Racing: Mainly strategy & project management! Lessons learned: Apply to business

› Strategic segmentation: Don’t compete where you can’t win› Show stoppers first› No last-minute changes› Check lists, mnemonics› Diagnostics for failures› Integration: Takes time,

check components first

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Bob Noyce’s Expensive Watch! Microma — First LCD watch, with stopwatch quits

› “My watch cost me a heckofa lot more than yours did!”› “$15M watch — no more consumer products”

Noyce with Jobs

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Amateur Radio and Ethernet! Packet concept

› Errorless data transmission› Contention — Also a feature of amateur radio

! Amateur packet radio› At the time, largest packet network, proved it can work

! Ethernet at Xerox PARC — Metcalfe, Boggs, et al› Inventors experienced in amateur radio

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Amateur Radio Adventures! California & Galápagos Is.

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The Unlicensed Wireless Revolution! Wireless: Licensed to avoid interference

› Limited spectrum: Restricted development! Technology: Digital packet & contention revolution

› Amateur radio: Contention within spectrum segments› Packet radio: Example for Ethernet, Internet, WiFi› Cellular a licensed service, but with contention

! Regulation: New unlicensed spectrum› Member of IEEE 802.11, Chairman of WINForum› FCC advocacy learned from amateur radio beacons› FCC permits unlicensed access to 2.4 GHz

• Contract with Apple re radio! Moore’s law, RFIC’s: WiFi & cellular affordable! Trend: Higher frequencies, e.g. 3.5 & 5 GHz, mm

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The Future from History! Does the Silicon Valley model still work?

› More institutionalized today, can handle larger volume› Some limitations now: Land, transportation› No limit on new young entrepreneurs, ideas and capital

! Life cycles: Big ! tiny, few ! many, commodity! There’s more to come in wireless

› More & more mobility: Radio is key› Microwave ! THz, ultrasound› Internet of Things (IoT): Radio communications-centered› Nanodevices: Quantity trillions, run on harvested energy

! What could be next?› More instant communications (Uber, SnapChat, DropBox)› Nanodevices: Wireless connection & power (e.g., medical)

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Questions?

The past 50 years have been a great adventure.

Thanks for your attention.

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