as a gato who lived through the 90's tech bubble with a front row seat at an SF fund, i'd like to share some impressions about ellison and oracle



oracle was a sales organization, not a tech co. they never had great tech. what they had was the most savage sales force in software

informix and others always had better tech. it didn't matter. oracle had the sales force that could batter anyone into submission. they lied, cheated, and stole. FUD and misinformation was a specialty. they lied about releases, capabilities, and issues with competitors.

how do you keep a sales force that vicious? fire the bottom 15%-20% of performers, without fail, every year. this was glengary glen ross level stuff. i knew people that worked there. it was a pressure cooker. people had breakdowns. but they moved a ton of software.