After studying Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Mr. Tate moved to the United States and completed his master’s degree at the Tuck School of Business in Dartmouth. After completing his MBA, he got a job at Microsoft, just outside of Seattle, when his software maker was growing into one of the most powerful companies in the world.Not long after that he hired one of the company’s most prominent employees: Future CEO and Chairman Satya Nadella.
In the 1990s, during the heyday of multimedia CD-ROMs, Mr. Tate oversaw Microsoft’s catalog of reference titles. This includes the Encarta Encyclopedia and Bookshelf, Roger’s Thesaurus, American Heritage Dictionary, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotes, and the Chicago Manual of Style. He eventually became something of an entrepreneur in residence for the company, and within four years he had five new internet projects within Microsoft, including his Carpoint for car buying services and his Sidewalk for online city guides. launched a business.
He left the company in 1997 hoping to become a radio disc jockey with the help of Scottish Brogues. However, after an unsuccessful audition, he decided to develop his Cranium and founded a new company, Cranium Inc., with his ex-colleague at Microsoft, Mr. Alexander.
When they finished making the game in late 1998, game stores and other traditional retailers were already stocking their shelves for the holiday buying season. But when they met for coffee one afternoon at Starbucks in Seattle, Mr. Tate had other thoughts.
“His idea was to sell the game where the customer is, not where the game is sold,” Alexander said. “Most of the people we wanted never set foot in a game store.”
Through an acquaintance, Tate arranged a meeting with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Starbucks soon began selling cranium in stores nationwide. Tate and Alexander have since signed similar deals with Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Both were known at the time to primarily sell books rather than games.
