How a young Bill Gates overcame his first product demo disaster

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How a young Bill Gates overcame his first product demo disaster

Todd Bishop on Thursday, April 16, 2009, 2:31pm PDT

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Bill Gates | Microsoft | Paul Allen

Now we know why Bill Gates was always able to stay so calm on stage whenever Microsoft's product demos ran into trouble: He had plenty of experience with such things, starting at an early age.

An upcoming book by his father, Bill Gates Sr., includes an endearing story about "Trey," as his family calls him, attempting to give a demonstration of the early "Traf-O-Data" software that Gates and Paul Allen developed long before they founded Microsoft. The book, "Showing Up for Life," was excerpted today by Fortune magazine. Here's the story.

After many successful kitchen-table practice sessions, my son persuaded some employees of the city of Seattle to come to the house for a demonstration. Well, things that day at the Gates home didn't go according to plan. The Traf-O-Data did not perform.

How did Trey react when the first live demonstration of his system failed? He went running into the kitchen, shouting on the way, "Mom! Mom! Come and tell them that it worked!"

It's probably no surprise that he made no sale that day. The Traf-O-Data did finally achieve some success, although it didn't foreshadow anything like a Microsoft. Perhaps the lesson here is that every success involves a few false starts.

Based on the excerpt, and other details, it's looking like the book should be a good read. "Showing Up for Life," is due out April 28.

Previously: Bill Gates introduces Bill Gates

About Todd Bishop

Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.

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