These measures solved the production problem, but didn’t help in any way with the sales. According to Donna’s estimates, they needed about $5 million to promote the yet unnamed Touchdown into the market. Considering the market situation, it was close to impossible to raise the money.

The list of potential partners was getting ever shorter until it came to a new name. It was the name of a quite successful company, which Donna had earlier wanted to engage into production of the modem for Touchdown device. The company had boosted its annual sales volumes from $50 to about $900 million in five years. It was U.S. Robotics. The company with headquarters in Illinois wanted very much to move into the Silicon Valley.

Without any serious hopes for any success, Donna called up her friend banker who had worked on USR's initial public offering. He arranged her meeting with John Zakin, vice-president of U.S. Robotics. It was simple then: Zakin saw the Touchdown and was conquered. He promised the necessary $5 million. A couple of weeks later the two parties met in Palo Alto. Zakin was all positive, but never mentioned the money. Dubinsky started to get worried, when Zakin made a sudden offer. U.S. Robotics wanted to buy Palm. The heads of the company wanted to promote their own product and had enough production facilities. It was impossible to resist. $44 million in the U.S. Robotics stock and Palm Computing becomes a division of the modem maker. Touchdown becomes the famous Pilot, the founder of the PDA era, as we know it today.

Part II

What do you do, if you have an excellent idea implemented in a single prototype, but lack money to make copies of this prototype to offer to the masses? Seek for money. But what should you do if the market you are going to conquer has already consumed over a billion dollars, and without any real feedback, and no one seems very eager to offer you the necessary sum? Well, there still remains one option. You can sell yourself to someone bigger and more powerful than you (if there is anyone willing to buy). The money and the reaffirmed position will allow you to make what you think fit.

In 1995, when Donna Dubinsky was on her quest for investors to promote the Touchdown device created by Hawkins, she always heard the same thing, “No, thanks.” And then the list of potential investors came to the modem maker, U.S. Robotics. The company was in the spotlight then. Dubinsky wanted $5 million to start selling the device, and John Zakin, U.S. Robotics’ vice-president, was so impressed with the PDA prototype that he accepted all her offers. The impression was even stronger than Donna had anticipated. In a couple of weeks, at their next meeting, Zakin voiced a sudden proposal – U.S. Robotics wanted to buy Palm Computing.