Before Judy Faulkner founded Epic, she asked someone who had spun off a lab business from University of Wisconsin-Madison for tips on how to start a company.
Here is what he told her, according to a Sept. 11 blog post.
1. Get a good lawyer.
2. Get a good accountant.
3. Get permission from the university.
"Very good advice," she wrote.
His expertise seems to have helped. Faulkner built Epic into the nation's largest EHR vendor for U.S. hospitals.
Ms. Faulkner earned a master's in computer sciences and taught at University of Wisconsin before developing the software that became Epic in the late 1970s in a Madison basement apartment. Then people started asking to use the software.
"I had no idea how to start a company. It had never been a dream of mine," she wrote. "For those who read The Accidental Tourist, I was 'The Accidental CEO.'"
Her net worth is now estimated at $7.4 billion.