"Another thing we had learned along the way was to raise money before we needed it. One thing you find out after a little bit of experience as an entrepreneur is that the bank will lend you money as long as you don't need it. You can sell stock as long as you really don't have to. With good advice from directors such as Arthur Rock, we have always had plenty of capital on hand, so that we haven't been hindered in our ability to raise more.

"I suppose I can't end without bragging a bit about Intel. We just completed our 25th year; our revenue was $8.8 billion, and our earnings were over $2 billion. That puts us at least in the top 20 and maybe in the top 10 of the world's most profitable companies. We have steadily increased our lead as the largest semiconductor manufacturer and have more than 30,000 employees worldwide.

But there are some things I'm not quite so proud of that have come along with it. In 1984, for example, we hit a peak of 26,000 employees; in 1986 we were down to under 18,000. Laying off 8,000 employees is not a very pleasant task, and it's something I think could have been avoided had Intel management been a bit more careful and perceptive."

"There is such a thing as a natural-born entrepreneur, for whom the entrepreneurial urge drives everything, and who can make a business out of almost anything. But the accidental entrepreneur like me has to fall into the opportunity or be pushed into it. Then the entrepreneurial spirit eventually catches on. To me the opportunities to start a company are few and far between. Things have to line up right. I'm not the sort of entrepreneur who can just say, "I'm going to start a company. Let's look for an opportunity." In my entire career I think I've seen only about three ideas come by that I would consider a basis on which to try to start an enterprise. But starting a company is certainly exciting, and building a successful enterprise is satisfying and rewarding."