Michael Dell founded his namesake company in 1984. Since then, dozens of consumer tech companies have risen and fallen — and he says he knows why. On the "Founders" podcast , Dell said that he watched many of his competitors make critical judgment errors. While he said there were many he could list off, three were top of mind. "If you're in the middle of a super competitive endeavor and you don't completely understand what's going on, well, you're going to make mistakes," Dell said. The first