Michael Bloomberg

1. Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined Phi Kappa Psi, and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in electrical engineering. Later he received his MBA degree from Harvard Business School. On May 16, 2009, he received a honorary doctorate of humane letters from Fordham University and in 2007 he received an honorary doctorate of public service from Tufts University.
2. Bloomberg became a general partner at Salomon Brothers, where he headed equity trading and, later, systems development. In 1981, he was fired from Salomon Brothers and was given a $10-million severance package. Using this money, Bloomberg went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems. In 1982, Merrill Lynch became the new company's first customer, installing 22 of the company's Market Master terminals and investing $30 million in the company. The company was renamed Bloomberg L.P. in 1986. By 1987, it had installed 5,000 terminals.
3. "We made mistakes, of course. Most of them were omissions we didn't think of when we initially wrote the software. We fixed them by doing it over and over, again and again. We do the same today. While our competitors are still sucking their thumbs trying to make the design perfect, we're already on prototype version No. 5. By the time our rivals are ready with wires and screws, we are on version No. 10. It gets back to planning versus acting. We act from day one; others plan how to plan - for months."

Highlights

* In 1981, he was fired from Salomon Brothers and was given a $10-million severance package. Using this money, Bloomberg went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems.
* "We made mistakes, of course. Most of them were omissions we didn't think of when we initially wrote the software. We fixed them by doing it over and over, again and again. We do the same today. While our competitors are still sucking their thumbs trying to make the design perfect, we're already on prototype version No. 5. By the time our rivals are ready with wires and screws, we are on version No. 10. It gets back to planning versus acting. We act from day one; others plan how to plan - for months."

==GOT FIRED, AND GOT FIRED UP==
==TAKING A PRODUCT EARLY TO THE MARKET INSTEAD OF GETTING INTO ANALYSIS PARALYSIS==