{"id":62766,"date":"2025-12-14T17:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T06:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=62766"},"modified":"2025-12-14T17:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T06:08:12","slug":"ross-perot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=62766","title":{"rendered":"Ross Perot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ross<\/p>\n

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His employees got thrown in an Iranian prison. He hired Special Forces to break them out.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A $1,000 investment created a man who almost became president.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ross Perot was 32 years old.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He quit IBM in 1962. Started Electronic Data Systems with nothing but an idea and a thousand bucks.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Everyone said he was crazy.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Why would you leave the best sales job in America?”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Data processing? Nobody’s buying that.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“You’re throwing away your career.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He didn’t listen.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But here’s what nobody tells you. They were almost right.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot was rejected 77 times before landing his first contract.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Seventy-seven nos. Most people quit after five. Maybe ten.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He kept going.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By 1968, EDS went public. The stock opened at $16. Within days it hit $160.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Forbes called him “the fastest, richest Texan.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By December 1969, his shares were worth $1 billion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Then April 1970 happened.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In a single day, Perot lost $445 million on the stock exchange.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The biggest individual loss in NYSE history at that time.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Wall Street laughed. “The Texan got what was coming to him.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Most people would have crumbled. Sold everything. Gone back to a safe job.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot? He just kept building.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Fourteen years later, he sold EDS to General Motors for $2.4 billion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But that’s not what makes this story interesting.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1979, a young Bill Gates approached Perot about buying Microsoft. A tiny software company worth maybe $2 million.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot thought the asking price was too high.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He passed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Microsoft is now worth over $3 trillion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot called it “one of the biggest business mistakes I’ve ever made.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But here’s what separates good entrepreneurs from great ones.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When Steve Jobs got fired from Apple in 1985, he started a new company called NeXT. Everyone said Jobs was finished. Washed up. A has-been at 30.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot watched a PBS documentary about Jobs. Called him the next morning.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“If you ever need an investor, call me.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot invested $20 million into NeXT. Took a board seat.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He didn’t want to miss another Microsoft.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NeXT struggled. The computers didn’t sell. Most people would have written it off as a loss.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But in 1996, Apple bought NeXT for $400 million. Jobs came back.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NeXT’s software became the foundation for macOS. And later, the iPhone.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot’s “failed” investment helped create the most valuable company on Earth.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But he wasn’t done.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1979, two of his EDS employees were arrested in Iran during the revolution. The government wanted $12.7 million in ransom. The U.S. couldn’t help.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Most CEOs would have hired lawyers. Waited it out. Let bureaucracy run its course.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot hired a retired Special Forces colonel. Assembled a team of Vietnam veterans who worked for EDS. Flew to Tehran himself.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When negotiations failed, his team helped start a prison riot. 11,000 inmates escaped. Including his two employees.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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They drove 500 miles overland to Turkey.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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All of them made it home.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Hollywood made a miniseries about it. Ken Follett wrote a bestseller.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Then came politics.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1992, Perot announced he was running for president. As an independent. No party. No political machine.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Everyone said it was impossible.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Third-party candidates never win.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“He’s wasting his money.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Americans don’t vote independent.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At one point, Perot led the polls. Ahead of both George Bush and Bill Clinton.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He dropped out in July. Came back in October.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Still got nearly 20 million votes. 19% of the popular vote.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The most successful third-party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He changed how campaigns worked. Used TV infomercials instead of rallies. Spoke directly to voters on talk shows. No handlers. No scripts.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He ran again in 1996. Got 8% of the vote.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Never won an election. Never held office.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But here’s what people miss.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot didn’t run to win. He ran to prove a point. That ordinary Americans were tired of being ignored. That you didn’t need permission from the political establishment to have a voice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When he died in 2019, he was worth $4.1 billion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Started with $1,000.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Rejected 77 times.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Lost $445 million in a single day.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Missed Microsoft.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Got called crazy for running for president.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Still built companies that sold for billions. Still rescued his people from a foreign prison. Still changed American politics. Still helped fund the technology that powers every iPhone on the planet.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What rejection are you letting stop you?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What “failure” are you treating like the end?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perot got rejected 77 times before his first yes.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He lost almost half a billion dollars in one day and kept going.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He missed the biggest investment opportunity in tech history and still funded the next one.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He ran for president twice without winning and still made history.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Stop counting your losses.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Start counting your attempts.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The guy who got told no 77 times built a multi-billion dollar empire, bankrolled the iPhone, and ran for president.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Your “impossible” goal doesn’t look so impossible anymore, does it?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Think Big.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His employees got thrown in an Iranian prison. He hired Special Forces to break them out. A $1,000 investment created a man who almost became president. Ross Perot was 32 years old. He quit IBM in 1962. Started Electronic Data Systems with nothing but an idea and a thousand bucks. Everyone said he was crazy. … <\/p>\n

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