Sir Robin Saxby, founding CEO of Arm (retired 2007), technology entrepreneur, visiting Professor University of Liverpool. April 2022

Keith has done an excellent job accurately charting the Arm journey and articulated well the critical ingredients for Arm’s success.

 

 

This book is less about what we achieved and more about how we created the right culture alongside the technology and business strategy. The combination led to spectacular growth and industry leadership, making Arm-based microprocessors the most popular on our planet – used in just about every electronic device you can imagine, with over 200 billion Arm-based devices shipped by Arm’s semiconductor partners.

 

 

I first met Keith after he had been recommended to me by Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Acorn Computers and sponsor of the original ARM processor. At the interview, Keith asked me how we would balance the seemingly conflicting needs of our two major investors: Acorn and Apple. A perceptive question and we took him on as employee number 33 – he subsequently contributed to the Thumb innovation, and led Engineering and Technical Marketing. Later, when I became President of the IET, he helped me write my Presidential address. Having read the book told through the eyes of Keith, I was pleased and humbled to see the positive impact of the great culture we had created.

 

 

While Arm is a technology company, the lessons outlined in this book are almost universally applicable: building an organisation of collaboration, ambition, and innovation. So, whether you are in a start-up, scale-up or mature business, there is something here for you to take away and apply inside your organisation. As Keith rightly says, this wasn’t an easy journey for Arm, but the focus on culture impacted and enabled almost every aspect of the company’s performance.

 

 

I started working with the Arm founders and investors before the company was created.

 

 

I’d known Hermann Hauser before he’d founded Acorn and had partnered with VLSI Technology within my role at ES2. I was aware of the Arm processor through a European project and knew people in Apple. So when a head-hunting phone call from Heidrick and Struggles came in the summer of 1990, I was interested in exploring the possibility to lead the UK headquartered start-up.

 

 

My own personal experiences and contacts helped. Without real experience, knowledge has little value. The importance of building trusting relationships and community is often played down, and Keith has done an excellent job bringing about the human factors needed for success.

 

Through reading the book, I have personally enjoyed refreshing my memory of our journey, both hard and exhilarating. I will personally recommend it to all my friends. Never in our world has humankind needed to collaborate better to save our planet, fix mental health issues and have a brighter future. I would like to thank all the people of every culture and nationality for contributing to Arm’s success, as well as Keith and the other contributors to this outstanding book.