Executive Spotlight: Bill Krause

"3Com is a must read for anyone interested in learning about how the magic of Silicon Valley works. It is a story about the start up, growth and evolution of an iconic technology company. Most of all it is about the exceptional people and executives, who gave the world the fundamental technology that connects virtually everyone and everything. They are my heroes.”

—Bill Krause, retired 3Com Chairman and CEO, and President, LWK Ventures

Bill Krause has always been active and engaging. When he interviewed me for my first job at 3Com for an internal audit role, I remember him being very supportive of my role and interested in its outcomes.

Bill has been a great cheerleader of this book. When I started this project back in 2015, he was one of my first official interviews. We met at his Los Altos Hills home in October, where the deer and coyotes play as 747 jumbo airliners seem to float overhead on their approach to SFO.

I was brand new to this whole primary-research-for-a-book thing, so we blew the first hour of the interview on the question: “Tell me what formative experiences influenced you in becoming a leader of 3Com.” It was easy to spend a lot of time talking about this as Bill had a very rich and motley childhood and young adulthood. We covered everything from his family’s itinerant nature, to stories about bullies and marbles and growing up, to his making sales calls with Bill Hewlett himself as a young HP employee.

Thank you Bill for the leadership, commitment, and experience that you brought to 3Com and 3Com! We are now at 380 followers now on 3comstory.com (up from 260 two weeks ago)! Thank you all for your efforts - and if you haven't already, please share the site and our news with your friends so they will sign up., and let us know how you helped spread the word for a chance at time capsule prizes! You can email Jeff at jchase@garlic.com.

Please, subscribe to our newsletter at the top of this page and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @3ComStory! And set a reminder to grab yourself a copy of 3Com on June 4th where you can read all of Bill's fun stories and fun stories about Bill.