Every small business owner knows that the laws of finance will allow negative cash to be augmented with debt as a temporary means to an end, but not as a long-term way of life.
It was a big jump from hard-core technical books with titles like Applying RCS and SCCS, to Parisian guide books, but as a sole owner O'Reilly was able to finance his dream.
Original owner Vince Naimoli came from the world of finance too, but his fortune was built as a turnaround specialist, taking over struggling companies, streamlining operations, stripping out costs and then cashing out at a tidy profit.