Last week, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Steve Wozniak (Woz), the co-founder of Apple for an in-depth interview about the startup days of Apple.
In the interview Woz opens up about:
1. How he and Steve Jobs found the seed capital to build their first product
2. The most challenging part of growing from a seed company working from home to the most valuable company in the world
3. His very honest opinion on what Steve Jobs was great at, and what his stark weaknesses were
To me, Apple exemplifies a great business partnership.
Woz was the computer scientist; the product guy. Jobs was the visionary and the leader both internally and externally. Mike Markkula, came in as an investor and mentor to Jobs before the release of the Apple 2, at which point Markkula had as much of the company as Woz and Jobs.
The dynamic between these three components was a key driver in the holistic success Apple was able to achieve.
TBH, sounds like a considerable amount of sour grapes and the lesson would seem to be ensure your developers/engineers are on board with the vision first lest you risk trouble later…
Awesome! Woz what a guy, so humble and love that he doesn’t dress things up. Totally agree about bespoke education and technology. I think modern day curriculum is just such a tiny part of what our kids need to be active, creative, meaningful and responsible people in this world.
Raises great questions toward the end. Why were children not coming out of school smarter? I believe they weren’t urged to dream, look at the problems of the world, dream again, then narratively guided to expose the dream . We knock the risk taker out of our kids at an early age.
The two things that stand out for me in this interview are: “I like to think of things that have never been…what doesn’t exist today…” and “Go in the directions they favour as fast as they want…” Steve Wozniak.
This is an insightful interview.
Thanks Jack.