When I was in the third grade I found a feed store near my house that had baby chicks for 5 cents apiece. I bought two of them and next day brought them to school. My classmates really liked them so I sold them both for 25 cents each. There was still a demand, so after school I bought ten more chicks. Next day at school I sold them all for 25 cents each. That was my first business experience.
Next I worked for Data Disk where we developed the first hard disk drives now used in every computer on earth. Then I was part the team who started Triad Systems (in Menlo Park, CA). We developed the first multi-user computer system to use the "new" Intel 8004 microprocessor. Triad went public in 1979 and I left the company in 1982.
I started my own company named BizTel which took advantage of the government's breakup of AT&T and resold time on long distance lines to businesses. This was when a cross contry call cost 26 cents a minute; before long distance calls became so cheap that now phone companies no longer bother to charge for them. I sold BizTel in 1985.
I started a computer consulting compay named Integrated Technology. While running Integrated Technology I started Pandora Data Systems in 1989. Its writeup is in the left column.