83-year-old Billionaire Serial Entrepreneur Dishes Out Business Advice

Mann Power
Los Angeles, California
Smart Business
November 2005

Al Mann, the billionaire founder of Advanced Bionics (cochlear implants), dishes out management wisdom in this profile by Laura Taxel. Mann founded several companies among them Spectrolab (electrooptical systems, 1956 - today a subsidiary of Boeing), Heliotek (semiconductors, spacecraft solar cells), Pacesetter Systems (pacemakers, sold to St. Jude Medical), MiniMed (insulin pumps, sold to Medtronics), Mannkind Corporation, Second Sight, Bioness, Quallion, and Stellar Microelectronics.

Referring to the major elements required to create a successful business enterprise, Mann says, "Capital is most important, I can’t emphasize that enough...The failure of most promising businesses is usually due to inadequate funds for the start-up and early growth phase of the enterprise."