ABSTRACT
Through the early months of 1968, we both had been giving thought-independent of one another-to starting in business on our own. The market was crying for talented, experienced people to work with companies implementing computerized business systems for the first time. There was not enough talent to fill the need at IBM, let alone elsewhere in the industry. American business was desperate to the point that anyone who espoused experience was almost instantly employable. The opportunity this presented was too great, prompting some of the big accounting firms to launch their
first initiatives into computer consulting services. From the point of prudent business practice, this made absolutely no sense to me, that you would ask those who are chartered with auditing your business practices to become critically engaged in a hands-on fashion with the workings of your business. The accounting firms, however, were confident in their own minds that this represented no conflicts of interest and pushed ahead aggressively. Watson and I both viewed this as evidence of how dire the need for help had become. Sharing our thoughts on the issue-and our independent musings on starting in business on our own-we decided the right combination of talent and skill held a better-than-even chance of success.
