o in exchange for $19,300 in cash, $150,000 in future royalties, and discounts on equipment purchases. It would prove to be quite a favorable deal for the new company. Culture clash Bosack and Lerner's Cisco Systems took off, and the company was quickly earning hundreds of thousands of dollars each month with no professional sales or marketing staff. The founders eventually decided to seek help in growing the company and attracted the interest of Sequoia Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm. The venture capitalists provided financing and experienced corporate managers to help Cisco mature. John Morgridge was chosen lead the company as CEO, and became, in effect, Bosack and Lerner's boss. Relations among the three were tense from the start. The company went public in 1990, and became something of a Wall Street darling, attracting attention as the newest hot technology stock. Bosack and Lerner, however, were becoming increasingly disillusioned with the corporate atmosphere of their company. On August 28, 1990, matters finally came to a head. Cisco's seven vice-presidents met with Morgridge, demanding Lerner's resignation. The two founders quit the company and sold off their stake that same day, netting about $170 million. Appetite for acquisition Throughout the 1990s, Cisco Systems used its soaring stock price to finance the acquisition of dozens of smaller start-ups. Rather than invest heavily in research and development itself, the company's strategy was instead to allow others to innovate and then purchase those start-ups with promising technologies. The shopping spree began with the purchase of Crescendo Communications in 1993, and reached its own crescendo in 2000 when Cisco bought out 23 of its competitors in a single year. In this manner, Cisco was able to buy its way into markets it was not previously active in and provide a comprehensive array of networking products. Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice, VAULT CAREER career message boards, expert res