Tag Archives: HP

From Steve Jobs’ Life: Do Not Chase Profits, Chase Value

  Do Not Chase Profits, Chase Value:

By 1996, Apple had a 4% share of the market from a high of 16% in the late 1980s. Apple had expanded into every technology sector with a wide variety of products over the decade + that Jobs had been outcasted. John Scully did not think that high-tech could be sold to mass markets. According to Jobs, in the 1990s, Scully brought in corrupt people that wanted to make money only for themselves rather than create new ideas through Apple. Scully’s drive for profits at the cost of market share reduced Apple’s value. Apple’s decline was due to its inability to innovate in any area. The Macintosh hardly improved after Jobs had left. In one instance, Jobs was asked to autograph a late-1980s model of the Macintosh keyboard but first he insisted that the arrow keys be removed. Jobs hated the arrows on the keyboard and viewed it as an example of bad decision-making within Apple. Apple was almost sold to Sun and HP in 1996, Apple’s stock fell to $14 in 1996. In 1994, Gil Amelio became the CEO of Apple and wanted to integrate the Apple with Windows NT which would have corrupted Apple further. Amelio did not like Jobs much, and thought Jobs was trying the reality distortion field at every point of interaction.
tion. Amelio was probably right.

This is an analysis based on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and other sources of research. Enjoy.

 More from Steve Job’s Life by Walter Isaacson
Location Really Does Matter for EntrepeurshipChildhood Shapes Your Thinking
Go Get What You Want, If You Have the CourageEducation Is For Conformists
Assume That You Will Die YoungGo To India
Pranking People Requires Creative ThinkingStarting A Company Is Very Difficult
Meet a Brilliant & Nobel EngineerMeetups Bring Insanely Great Ideas Together
Knowing What You Wanted to DoExclude Relevant Information Where Necessary
Have Discipline Over Body and MindPicking A Name is as Simple As Picking Apples
Crime Does Pay!!??Sharing Ideas Is Fine Up To A Point
Most Good Ideas Have to Be Force Down Peoples ThroatsXerox Parc
Run Your Company Our Of Your Parents HouseMike Markkula’s Marketing Theory Is Built Around Three Areas
MacKenna’s Advertising Style WorkedDon’t Worry About A Business Plan Until You Need Investment in a Serious Venture
Create A Simple Product For HouseholdsYour Product Needs to be a Full Simple Package
Jobs’ Management Style Was “Shit” from ’77 to ’85A Startup Will Become Impersonal With Success
Apple III was a bastard childBeing Abandoned = Ignoring Reality
Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists StealSurround Yourself With “A Players”
Reality Distortion FieldBe At The Nexus of Humanities and Technology
Believe In A Closed System & Product ControlMarket Research Is For Idiots
Motivate With The Big PictureUnhealthy Competition Within A Company Can be Corrosive
The Best & Most Innovative Products Don’t Always WinEras Are Defined by Partnerships & Rivalry – Gates Versus Jobs Round 1
Genius Versus Shit-HeadThe Boardroom Showdown & Emotionality
Advertising Does MatterA Messy Company Can Still Work
A Clean Factory Is Insanely Great But The Product Has To SellBeing Right Isn’t As Important As Winning
Imperfection Is A Moral WrongBringing In An Outside Expert Can Be Costly
The Original Macintosh Had Bad SalesFall From Grace Through Management Incompetence
Finding Similarities Between Yourself & Your Business Partner May Not Be GoodEras Are Defined By Partnerships & Rivalry – Gates Versus Jobs Round 2
Force An Ultimatum To Get Control of a CompanyNever Tell The Allies of Your Opposition That You’re Planning a Coup
Brilliant Failures Help You GrowDesign Should Not Trump Processing
Do Not Disrespect Your Potential Business PartnersGet Real On Your Lean Startup
Get A VC Who Missed Out On A Previous Winning OpportunityAvoid The Problem of Focusing on the Small
Gain Financial Control Against Your Business PartnersRivalry of the Ants & Breaking With Disney
Build A Board That Cannot Operate Independently of the CEODo Not Chase Profits, Chase Value
Do Not Force Other Businesses Into Your Closed SystemHow To Save A Dying Tech Company – Fire the Board Or Resign
Merge Your Venture With A Giant That You Can Take OverTargeting the Education Market Is Not Lucrative
How to Save Dying Tech Company – Return To Your Successful RootsHow to Save a Dying Tech Company – Make Products Not Profit, Fundamentally
Skate Where the Puck’s Going, Not Where It’s BeenThe Loser Now Will Be Soon To Win
The Internet Is Made For MusicBrand Yourself Differently
Don’t Be Afraid to CannibalizeCreate Complimentary Product Offerings Without a Lead Loss Generator
Focus On What People Really Want…1,000 SongsGoogle’s “Don’t Be Evil Mantra” is Bullshit
Get Yourself Into the Cloud & A CastleDon’t Fear Change In Industry, Anticipate It
Create An Inventory Management System & Build a Store That WorksConverge Old Devices Into 1 New Device
Do Not Ignore Medical Diagnoses Make Peace With Your Old Enemies

From Steve Job’s Life: Most Good Ideass Have to Be FOrced Down People’s Throats

Most Good Ideas Have To Be Forced Down People’s Throats:

Wozniak did not want to go into business, but Jobs convinced Woz to join Apple. But first, Wozniak decided that he would do the ethical thing by telling Hewlett Packard about his Apple I product which he had constructed based on his experience and training at HP. Wozniak presented the Apple I to executives at HP, but they did not think a personal computer made any sense. During one Homebrew Computer Club gathering, Jobs showed the Apple I and after his presentation he asked how much people would pay for the Apple I. The room was silent, no one was interested in buying the Apple I. That is, no one but Paul Terrell who owned an electronics store called The Byte Shop. Even Atari was pitched by Jobs, but they thought Jobs was a clown.

Apple’s first order was for a total of 50 computers from Terrell for $500 each. It took until 1981 for IBM which had dominated the mainframe computers industry to enter the personal computer market while Apple dominated as the fastest growing company in the history of the world at that time, and had already been in the process of developing both Lisa, and the Macintosh.

Another example is that Xerox PARC researchers had invented the Graphical User Interface (GUI) which was visual point and click system that would replace the black screen coding required to operate a computer previously. The only problem is that the Xerox management did not want to explore this personal computer technology. The management at Xerox did not understand the vision of these researchers at Xerox PARC and could not see a P&L statement that justified the time and energy to make the leap from photo-copying to personal computers. Steve Jobs would later explain that the Xerox management were “copy-heads.”

This is an analysis based on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and other sources of research. Enjoy.