Today we’d like to introduce you to James Stone.
Hi James, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started out in computing at National Semiconductor in Silicon Valley as a dispatch operator for the very first price scanners in grocery stores. From there I started home school in electronics at the Cleveland Institute of Electronics. That got me a job as a technician at Osborne Computers, employee 62. Osborne was the very first handheld microcomputer before Apple and IBM. I answered questions and handled repairs in the home office in Hayward California and traveled the country fixing systems. The very first software available came out during that time. I became Tech Support Manager and needed something to keep track of returns. The very first database package was dBase, single user. Then Dataflex, now Visial Dataflex came out. If you wanted something, you had to write it yourself. There was nothing to buy. That started me programming. Osborne eventually went under, there’s a great book written by Adam Osborne called Hypergrowth that tells the story. I left a week before it went under and started as a system’s engineer at TeleVideo and traveled the country. All the very first computer networks were being developed during that time. I eventually became Tech Support Manager over all 3 divisions, Terminals, Systems, and Printers. A very notable network was Novell Netware. I was part of the engineering review board and spoke with and met the writer. The company Novell did not exist yet. The first versions that connected PCs were created at TeleVideo. One notable thing was a 2 week stint in Beijing China in 1985 with the very first 200 computers in China. I was teaching component level troubleshooting. From there, I became VP Engineering at Costa Distributing in Mountain View. This was the very first Netware distributor and shipped Netware to all the other 4 Distributors, some that are still in business. I was probably one of the top 5 network engineers at the time in the country. I then became VP Operations and later VP Sales and ran everything but the accounting. Notable things I was involved with was shipping the very first 200 ethernet boards, optical drives, and diskless workstations. Being in Silicon Valley, companies came to me spefically to sell their goods. If I liked the product and did well selling them, the other distributors would take them on and then undercut us price wise and I had to find the next big thing to compete. All during these years, I had gotten very good at programming and a lot of the software being used in these companies I wrote myself. There just wasn’t much available for anything unusual. I eventually left and started my own business doing network installations, and then became 15% owner of Databank computers. Databank became the largest computer maker in the world. You don’t know the name because we made them for everyone else as an OEM Manufacturer. Due to some problems moving from soldered componet logic boards to surface mount, and having it happen at the same time as our bank merging with CoAmerica, the bank decided to call our loan and I ended up deep in debt. I worked as VP sales for the very first remote access software and hardware distributor for a while. Then a friend had a software company called TeleSell, one of the top 3 sales management software companies in the world used by some of the largest companies in the world. It was the first remote multi-site field based database synchronization. The remote site stuff was having trouble and wasn’t working right. I wasn’t supposed to be the programmer but the programmer there quit shortly after I started. I was asked to take a look. Within a few weeks, I had the remote synchronization working. Kind of make me the inventor. In 1994, I went home and worked remotely, maybe one of the first people to be able to do that. In a few years, Due to the owner’s money mismanagement, he went under and In 1997, I ended up working with 20 existing clients. I renamed it Sales Navigator. The name was sdtolen by Linked In years later. I sold them the URL instead of trying to fight them. That software was still MSDOS. Windows came out. I rewrote the software. That was cool for many years. When the Internet version of the Visual Dataflex language became available, I started re-writing a web-based version called WebNav. I moved to Texas in 2017, I love it here and am still writing and supporting several applications I have written over the years. I renamed the company Accountcraft.com. I’m still here. Everything is server to server communications these days. It’s been a long history but being at the leading edge of technology most of my life and figuring complex programming problems, many times, the first or only person to do it, has been fulfilling. One notable thing is I actually had Microsoft Word working multi-user, something it does not do even to this day. Lastly, I went home in 1994 and have not gone back to an office since..
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing is ever smooth, I’ve had two wives leave me, but I have 2 wonderful daughters and 5 grandkids. Databank computers going under and having to become CFO and handle the winding down company that was a 50 million a year company was very unpleasant. The Iraq war had started during that same time and I couldn’t sell my home to get back on my feet. I had to go bankrupt and eventually sold the home. The check I received was $600 bucks for the sale of the home. I lost everything. Having TeleSell go under was a disaster, but I was able to turn it around, rewrite everything and did very well. By the late 90’s I owned an 800K home free and clear. Long story. 2nd wife took it asll in 2007 and I ended up with about 25k left. Met my current wife Diane, very much best friend I’ve ever had. Together, we’ve turned that 25k into a small home in Calfornia that we sold and came to Texas at just the right time in 2017 before the pandemic. It’s now worth 2 1/2 time what we paid for it and we are doing very well. By the way, I have been a musician all my life. Working from home allows me to play whenever I want. I am currently the President of the Music Association of Central Texas which hold jams, meetings, contests and does Music and Arts Festivals every year,in Salado. This will be our 5th year, it happens this Nov 1st 2025
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I think Ive said enough about programming. I’m proud of it but it’s my income. Music is my love. I started playing the cello in 4th grade. By 8th grade, I played in the Northern Virginia Symphony orchestra and did a concert at the Kennedy in Washington DC. In 9th grade, I played cello in a quartet at many public events. That said, I always played guitar and sang. I should tell you my father started working with USAID, yes that one in 1966. He was sent to VietNam. We wnated to be near him, so in 1968, my family moved to the Phillipines as Embassy Brats. USAID is part of the State Department, I was in 4th grade. That was 2 years. We then moved to Lagos Nigeria during the Biafran War and lived for for a year. We then moved to Alexandria Virginia, Father worked st the State Department in DC. Then there was an earthquake that hit Managua Nicaragua. We moved there in 73. I was there for one year. I ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and spent 4 days in a Nicaraguan jail, long story. I was 14. I then left the country to live at school in San Jose California in a dormitory. I did not see my parents for 2 years. All this time, music kept me sane. As soon as I graduated, I joined a rock band called Madstone, a name I still use for my band today. Over the years, I have been in a band called Onyx, played 4 to 5 nights a week. I have traveled touring with “Roy Orbison Returns”, a tribute band in large theaters for about 9 years. I have played in worship groups for close to 10 years at two different churches. That all stopped when I moved to Texas. I have been here 8 years and have played all over Central Texas and still do. I have a gig in Killeen this saturday as a solo show, I love to play and entertain folks and hope I never have to stop. Working with MACT, Music Association Of Central Texas has also been a joy. Central Texas has so many great musicians. I’m 67 years old now. Hoping the body holds out for a lot longer.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are many. Those that believed in me and my abilities and gave me a shot. In business, I have to thank the ex-owner of TeleSell for hiring me in the first place and given me the ability to be on my own. I’m sorry he lost his company. But since 1997, I have been on my own and created my own future with little help. I do want to thank a company and the many people that work with me now. The company is one of the largest collections companies in the country, been around over 90 years and they have kept me on for over 25 years. I feel I have really helped their success and they have really helped me. And of course my wife Diane who has been such a great friend and a partner. I could not have gotten this far without her at all. She believes in my music and comes to see my shows as often as she can.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Madstoneband/
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/10YJRZw-bJ8
Image Credits
Steven Peters Photography for first photo
