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1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire Paperback – January 1, 2009

by Sam Wyly (Author)

4.3 42 ratings

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Expanded edition with new chapters on the Great Crash of 2008 and looking ahead.
Self-made billionaire Sam Wyly is a natural storyteller. In this candid, engrossing memoir, he recounts his experiences establishing and expanding companies on the leading edge of advancements in technology, energy, retail, and investments over the last five decades. From the hardships his family faced trying to hold on to their cotton farm during the Depression to the coaching he received on the high school football field, Wyly describes how his early years in Louisiana prepared him for what lay ahead.
Risking $1,000 of his savings, Wyly founded University Computing in 1963 and took it public two years later, becoming a millionaire at age thirty. Throughout this book, he reveals the decisions and strategies behind many business successes, including founding Sterling Software, growing the small chains of Michaels Stores and Bonanza Steakhouses into nationwide brands, and founding Green Mountain Energy, the largest provider of cleaner energy in America today.
In this expanded edition, Wyly discusses the "Great Crash of 2008" in historical perspective, offering insights on the causes of our current financial crisis and the path to recoveryincluding the importance of green energy for the future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"1,000 Dollars and an Idea is more than mere memoirs. Each personal tale, written with humor, candor, and spirituality, has an underlying business or life lesson." --Dallas Morning News --Dallas Morning News

Review

"Imagine Forrest Gump as smart and ambitious and you have the story of Texas billionaire Sam Wyly." --Wall Street Journal

From the Back Cover

Expanded edition with new chapters on the Great Crash of 2008 and looking ahead.
Self-made billionaire Sam Wyly is a natural storyteller. In this candid, engrossing memoir, he recounts his experiences establishing and expanding companies on the leading edge of advancements in technology, energy, retail, and investments over the last five decades. From the hardships his family faced trying to hold on to their cotton farm during the Depression to the coaching he received on the high school football field, Wyly describes how his early years in Louisiana prepared him for what lay ahead.
Risking $1,000 of his savings, Wyly founded University Computing in 1963 and took it public two years later, becoming a millionaire at age thirty. Throughout this book, he reveals the decisions and strategies behind many business successes, including founding Sterling Software, growing the small chains of Michaels Stores and Bonanza Steakhouses into nationwide brands, and founding Green Mountain Energy, the largest provider of cleaner energy in America today.
In this expanded edition, Wyly discusses the "Great Crash of 2008" in historical perspective, offering insights on the causes of our current financial crisis and the path to recovery including the importance of green energy for the future.

About the Author

Sam Wyly, a self-made billionaire of Scottish and Irish descent, grew up in Louisiana and attended local schools before going to Louisiana Tech University to study journalism and accounting. He won a scholarship to the University of Michigan Business School, where he earned his MBA. With his brother, Charles, his partner in many of his businesses, Sam funded the Charles Wyly Sr. Tower of Learning at Louisana Tech, in memory of their father.

Sam, an avid reader and student of history, and his wife Cheryl own Explore Booksellers in Aspen, Colorado. Sam is also an active proponent of clean air through clean energy.

He has lived most of his adult life in Dallas, and also spends time in Aspen and in New York's Greenwich Village.

Sam Wyly grew up in Louisiana and studied journalism at Louisiana Tech. He won a scholarship to the University of Michigan Business School, where he earned an MBA.
Sam, an avid reader and student of history, and his wife Cheryl own Explore Booksellers in Aspen, Colorado. He has lived most of his adult life in Dallas, and also spends time in Aspen and in New York's Greenwich Village.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Newmarket Pr; Expanded edition (January 1, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 291 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1557048487
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1557048486
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,018 in Biographies of Business & Industrial Professionals
- #8,747 in Entrepreneurship (Books)

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4.3 42 ratings

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Sam Wyly

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Sam Wyly was raised in small-town Louisiana. He got his MBA from the University of Michigan and began his career as a salesman for IBM. At 28, he created his first company, University Computing Company, the first of six enterprises Wyly grew to over $1 billion valuations.

Over the next fifty years, he became one of America's top multiple entrepreneurs, building companies in industries ranging from oil and gold mining to arts and crafts, from software to budget steakhouses, and clean electricity.

Wyly resides in Dallas and has six children, twelve grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. His memoir, 1,000 Dollars & an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire, was published in 2008, and his illustrated business biography, Beyond Tallulah, by Dennis Hamilton, came out in 2011. Texas Got It Right!, written with his son, Andrew Wyly, published in 2012, is a full-color, illustrated, provocative look at Texan policies, history, and culture. Published in 2016 by WylyBooks Company, a Texas non-profit, The Immigrant Spirit: How Newcomers Enrich America, was a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. This educational book provides a fascinating portrait of immigrants living the American Dream. Illustrated with colorful images, timelines, and facts, this book details the immigrant experience in America by highlighting how immigrants are, and always have been, essential to a strong economy. What makes Dallas one of the fastest growing cities in America? Why are people flocking to Frisco from towns across the nation? What attracts the largest companies in the world to move headquarters to Texas? The answers are simple: Dallas Got It Right! This dynamic new book, co-authored by Laurie Matthews and Andrew Wyly, offers intriguing insights into the many reasons all roads lead to Dallas. Wyly's "Dallas" rebels against limits, stretching from Colorado Springs; east to Jackson, Mississippi; south to Aggieland; and to the wild west of White Sands, New Mexico. "Dallas Got It Right!" is rich in history, entrepreneurial in spirit, expansive in technology, and inclusive in the community. Built on cotton, cows, oil, military, computer technology, and wholesaling and retail, Wyly reminds readers that, "Our Dallas feeds the world. Our Dallas is the technology capital of the world. Our Dallas is vital to America's military muscle.” "Dallas Got It Right!" offers a glimpse into the transcending vitality of Dallas--a spirit that connects the many hearts, generations, cultures, characters, and backgrounds that make Dallas what it is today. Available digitally and for pre-order now.

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XNOR

Brilliant, Inspiring and thought provoking

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2011

Verified Purchase

It is just amazing that how one man could create and manage businesses as varied as Steakhouse, Refineries, software products .... and best part is to be able to figure out when to sell them at the right time. He has managed to do them multiple times and had success in each one of them.

Sam Wyly writes his biography in a style of a story filled with pearls of wisdom. He traces his roots to some of the first lessons he learnt when he saw their family lose their home : "always hedge your bets". He goes on explain why he took some of the decisions he took and how he goes on to take tasks seemingly impossible - his very first business to buy a $1 million machine from IBM with $1000 cash was purely inspiring - he knew he wanted to do it, thats it - he worked with the university (SMU, dallas), the bankers, investors and created a business just out of $1000.

Next as he grew and started acquiring businesses - he wanted to hire the best people and let them run the show - in the case of Maverick Capital, Michaels ...

Another outstanding ability is to identify bubbles and get out before it gets him - he talks about the Dutch Tulip bubble multiple times in his biography: Yr: 2000 when he sold Sterling businesses for $8 billion, he sold his silver mine into the silver bubble, sold Michaels for $6 billion to Blackstone group ... Most people and companies would get into the groove of a infatuation rather than seeing it 10,000 miles above it.

We have to thank Sam for several contributions including his efforts in breaking AT&T monopoly, Green energy initiatives - these were for-profit initiatives with an overall good for the society.

Takeaways - there are several of them, here are a few ...
(1) His grandfather's advice: Never be limited by the amount of money in your pocket
(2) Always think in mental models and keep expanding your mental models
(3) It does not matter if you end up really rich - just keep doing what is right and good things will happen. He says that he never really aimed at being rich - it just happened through his passion, hard work and perseverance.
(4) There is no point in doing something about which you are not passionate - you do not need to be boxed with the thoughts and perceptions of any institution or a company.

Overall, I would highly recommend reading this book - would make a great graduation gift.

3 people found this helpful

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Robert E. Cook

What a wonderful book!

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2008

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Wyly's book is first the marvelous autobiography of a quintessential entrepreneur with many implicit lessons about what one must know and do to have a good chance of success, but more valuable is its service as a primer for what more it takes to be a world-class entrpreneur, as Wyly is.

Once you are smart, driven and knowledgeable about the intricasies of an opportunity, Wyly, in his story telling, shows that it takes an abundance of audacity and that male-defined acceptance of risk called "balls." Wyly has a set that could ring in the New Year, and his story telling is fast and first rate. I couldn't put it down.

Read it. Pass it on. It is that good, if you like a saga of intellectual application of entrprenuerial risk and impacable fortitude.

One person found this helpful

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john stafford

Thanks

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2022

Fast work....

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2009

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You have to understand firsthand that this book is not a self-help or a "teach yourself how to be a manager/entrepreneur" book. The people who rated this book poorly seemed to go about reading it in the wrong way. Rather, it is an interesting autobiography about a man who many have never heard of, and yet has made important and lasting impacts on American business. It's not dense like a lot of autobiographies--in fact I thought it was quite a page-turner. There are lots of neat little gems that you can pick up from the things he says, and if you are an astute and careful reader, there are a lot of consistent, underlying themes throughout the book. If you are looking for super-concentrated management guide, this is not the book for you. But if you want a good story about an impressive person with skills you can apply to yourself, this is a good one to read.

3 people found this helpful

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Dan H.

Some pearls of wisdom but left me wanting

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2008

I had never heard of Sam Wyly before so I had no preconceived notions about him or his history. From the book's title and description I hoped to learn practical techniques for entrepreneurs. If this is what you're looking for, I'd look elsewhere.

There are pearls of wisdom found throughout the book where he explains skills he learned while dealing with people or managing a company. The story of him playing on his high school football team as a 155lb nose guard was a great illustration of the power of pushing yourself and setting goals. He referred back to that several times when in later years he was fighting against IBM, AT&T's monopoly or other Goliath vs. David conditions.

He recounts a roughly chronological trip through his career. He starts off in the early days at IBM and Honewell, then goes into great detail about the companies he started, bought or invested in, such as University Computing Center, Bonzanza, Sterling Software and Michaels.

Much of the information he provides in the book makes him appear clairvoyant. With impeccable timing he managed to sell two companies for $4 billion each when in the same month the stock market tanked by 80%. While impressive, the descriptions of his feats lack insights into how he managed to do them, other than unsatisfying statements like, "I read a lot." I would imagine there are hundreds of people who read far more than he does that aren't nearly as timely. There must be something else he's not telling us. Perhaps he really doesn't know what it is. Perhaps he really is clairvoyant.

The organization of the book was hard to follow. It started off chronologically, but it didn't stay that way. It was unclear to me when he was dealing with one company or another. A timeline would have been helpful to understand when everything took place.

His grand tales of success were fun to hear about but left me with little to no understanding of how he achieved what he did. In the end, the book left me wanting.

38 people found this helpful

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Matt

Excellent read of an Entrepreneur

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2012

Verified Purchase

Sam Wyly's career is one that everybody should note. Coming from a small town near the Bayou, this autobiography captures true perseverance and commitment to becoming the best you could be. If you want a true inspirational story, read this book.

One person found this helpful

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