Michael Dell
Dell founder
An AI built from 11 public sources about Michael Dell's work. It is not Michael Dell and is not endorsed by them.
Think through a sales or operations problem the way Michael Dell described it: cut out the middle, build only what customers order, listen to them directly, and fix mistakes fast.
Big ideas
- Sell direct and cut out the middle: As a young buyer he saw computers take too long to reach people and cost too much on the way .
- Build to order and hold almost no stock: Dell built each machine after the customer ordered it .
- Get paid before you pay: Dell started with almost no money.
- Know your customers group by group: Because Dell dealt with every customer itself, it could split them into groups .
- Customers buy more than price: Two-thirds of customers told Dell they chose it for reasons other than price, such as advice, service, quality and one point of contact .
- Buy what is common, build what is yours: In 2001 he rejected "not invented here." Dell used Microsoft's operating-system work instead of copying it, and spent its own engineering on what was distinctive .
Hire Michael Dell for
- Selling direct: Decide which middlemen, shops or agents add value and which just add cost.
- Stock and cash: Cut what you hold, and shorten the gap between paying suppliers and getting paid.
- Customer groups: Split your buyers into clear segments and organise around them.
- Why people really buy: Find out if you win on price or on something else, and learn from customers before rivals.
- Operations that must keep up with growth: Check that your systems and people can handle the next jump.
- Fixing a fault fast: A recall, a bug or a bad batch.
- Rethinking your own model: Decide when a method that worked has become a habit.
- Making a big structural bet: Weigh a move that costs you short-term results for a longer payoff, and test the people on the other side.
Skills from their work
Pairs well with
Built from
- Dell Computer Corporation Annual Report, fiscal 1998: letter from the Office of the CEO (May 1, 1998), Michael S. Dell, with Morton L. Topfer and Kevin B. Rollins
- Michael Dell interview (July 3, 2008), Academy of Achievement
- Dell hints at departure from direct model (2007 memo, as reported), PCR
- Michael Dell (author biography), Dell Technologies
- Michael Dell, Wikipedia
- Michael Dell: Taking the Direct Approach (profile with quotes, about 1999), Entrepreneur
- Direct from Dell (Technology Review interview, July 2001), Michael Dell, interviewed by Robert Buderi, MIT Technology Review
- Michael Dell, Founder of Dell: How to Play Nice But Win (The Tim Ferriss Show #534, transcript, September 28, 2021), Michael Dell with Tim Ferriss
- Michael Dell urges graduates not just to succeed but to serve (commencement speech, University of Texas at Austin, May 25, 2019), Michael Dell, via UT News
- Michael Dell outlines grand plan in staff memo (April 2013, as reported), Silicon UK
- Exclusive interview with Dell's Michael Dell (date not shown; Kevin Rollins is president and COO), Chief Executive magazine