Peter Fritz was born in 1943 in the historic city of
Arad in Transylvania, during the Second World War. Following the
war, his city became part of the People's Republic of
Romania, and he grew up a proud and feisty pioneer. But the
injustices and persecutions of the communist government weighed
heavily on his family and in late 1961, after 14 years of waiting
for a permit to leave the country, they made their way to
Australia. Peter began working as a cleaner, studied English and
later attended university part time. By the late 1960s, he found
himself working in the newly emerging field of computer science. In
1971 the company he was working for was forced to close by
creditors, and, rather than lose his job, he used what he knew
to launch a new company with some likeminded peers.

Forty years and a hugely successful career as an entrepreneur
later, having co-founded a $1.25 billion company that employs
6000 people worldwide, he wanted to gather his experiences in
business into a book so he could hand his expertise down to his
children. He began to look for a writing partner, someone who also
wanted to share what they knew with others, and after asking
around, a friend and business associate suggested he meet
Jeanne-Vida Douglas.

A multi-award winning business journalist with a decade's
experience covering the information technology sector, Jeanne-Vida
was looking for a way to gather together the very best stories she
came across in her work into a single edition. At the time
Jeanne-Vida was juggling her own small business as a freelance
journalist and business writer with the demands of two small
children, and was keen to encourage others to find ways to turn
their skills into microenterprises.

The pair met in early 2007 at Peter's offices in Chippendale in
Sydney, Jeanne-Vida bouncing her baby son on her lap, and they
agreed to meet regularly for coffee to figure out how to turn these
ideas and real life experiences into a book that could be shared
down the generations and across the business community. Over many
meetings they gathered ideas, wrote and rewrote, discussed and
argued the fundamental ideas and real life examples that now fill
this book.