Tale of two visionaries

There are some people who come up with amazing concepts, change the industry landscape and never get any credit. We always talk about the likes of Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs but I have not heard people talk about contributions of Preston Tucker and Adam Osborne - two amazing guys. Both were ahead of their time but a few strategic mistakes cost them dearly. Well, it is always easy to look back and analyze what went wrong but that's beside the point.

Tucker ran into a very powerful "Detroit Big-3" lobby and in hindsight should have managed government relations better. The automobile he designed, "Tucker Torpedo", was way ahead of its time in terms of elegance and safety features. "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" is a movie made on Tucker's life and is a must see if you are interested in history of business.

I don't remember where I first read about Adam Osborne but his story prompted me to write this post. An amazing visionary who arguably changed the computing world by creating a mass market for portable computers. He led a very interesting life - started his career as a chemical engineer and then got into computers. After Osborne Computers went bust he started another company to create software for the masses. A patent case caused this company to go under as well, but this probably was the first attempt to create software for people like you and me. Osborne, in 1984, thought that India will become an engineering powerhouse. Amazing foresight!!

If we look at the two industries now we can appreciate these two visionaries even more. Auto industry tries so hard to make automobiles safer and more elegant. Tucker thought this was the way to go way back in 1946. And I don't need to discuss the market for software/hardware for the masses.