Exactly, Steve wouldn't be back at Apple if he(Next) didn't sell out. No Apple A4/A5 if PASemi didn't sell out. No Siri either if Siri didn't sell out.
Steve Jobs' memo to startups
71–80 of 133 posts
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#72With this in mind I wonder why he chose to sell Pixar. While he made a tremendous amount of money from the sale, I don't think it was really enough to make a tremendous change in his lifestyle.
As a result of the sale, he also became a major shareholder in Disney and joined the board. That might have had a bigger impact for him than just the monetary value from the sale.
Indeed, I think people really underestimate the importance of having the Disney catalog in the iTunes store. And when I say Disney I mean Disney, ABC, Miramax and the other subsidiary studios.
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#73It's worth noting that Steve Jobs was one of the few lucky ones to work doing something that they love. Working hard in this context still qualifies as hard work, but believing that it's all what entrepreneurship is about is a rather naive and delusional view of things.
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#74So true. This term seems to be abused more than ever now a days. I've seen too many people who are just starting a company (literally), throw this term around. It's not something to be proud of unless you have something to be proud of.
Also, starting a company and being an Entrepreneur are not the same thing. There are many owners of small businesses that would certainly not consider themselves Entrepreneurs. I never hear that term tossed around by the owner of the local Deli.
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then the interesting question is: would you be willing to sell YC in the next couple of years if the price is right? (My hunch is that you're not going to sell YC anytime soon -- even though you probably could sell it -- simply because you're not done yet.)
YC is different. We didn't even think of it as a company at first, just an interesting project. It has turned out to be one of those cases where a side project takes over your life (sort of like Facebook, though much more gradual), but that wasn't planned. We just kept getting more applications and either had to grow or start rejecting people we thought were good. I never considered what I'd do if someone wanted to b…
"because I don't need the money and it wouldn't be worth the risk that the acquirer would ruin it."
last night i watched the movie "meet joe black" and that sentence reminded me of a quote that "william parish" said when he realized he was going to die.
"I don't want anybody buying up my life's work! Turning it into something it wasn't meant to be. A man wants to leave something behind. And he wants it left behind the way he made it. He wants it to be run the way he run it, with a sense of honor, of dedication, of truth. Okay? "
i'm not saying it's the same thing, but, it did remind me of the movie.
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#76PG wrote a good post on this topic (a counterpoint I would argue). Unfortunately I can't find it. But it's about why selling your company makes sense -- why you should give it to people who are optimzied for running a business. Or something to that effect. Probably worth rereading if I could find it.
There was also a great debate between PG and DHH (of Rails fame) on what defines a "startup," as well as some philosophical tangents on what made one successful. It was a really good discussion. This quote reminded me of that thread, but I'll be darned if I can find it now.
I guess you meant this thread -
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
What he's criticizing is doing a startup specifically so that it could be flipped later. If you are in it to build a real company, you actually go through the hard work that Jobs is talking about. Did you start viaweb to sell it to someone else later, or did you start it to build an actual sustainable business?
We started it to sell. We were not interested in online stores. Some of the problems were kind of interesting, but neither I nor Robert nor Trevor thought of Viaweb as our life's work. Incidentally, building a business to sell doesn't mean it can't be sustainable. Viaweb made Yahoo lots of money.
> We were not interested in online stores. Some of the problems were kind of interesting, but neither me nor Robert nor Trevor thought of Viaweb as our life's work.
'How to find your "life's work"' might make a great essay. I think the majority of founders find themselves a few years in working on ideas they aren't crazy about.
In a sense founders get married to ideas too young, realize it's not a perfect fit, and then an "acquisition" is basically a divorce between them and the idea.
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then the interesting question is: would you be willing to sell YC in the next couple of years if the price is right? (My hunch is that you're not going to sell YC anytime soon -- even though you probably could sell it -- simply because you're not done yet.)
YC is different. We didn't even think of it as a company at first, just an interesting project. It has turned out to be one of those cases where a side project takes over your life (sort of like Facebook, though much more gradual), but that wasn't planned. We just kept getting more applications and either had to grow or start rejecting people we thought were good. I never considered what I'd do if someone wanted to b…
I think Steve would now consider you an entrepreneur.
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#79I kind of think the opposite. Entrepreneurs are the ones that create viable businesses, cash in, and move on (usually to try to do it again.) Steve, on the other hand, created the mother of all lifestyle businesses. (for his value of lifestyle, of course)
I think that's stretching the definition of lifestyle business a bit much. Surely not every person who starts a business for the long haul is building a lifestyle business? A lifestyle business is a business you start in order to live a certain lifestyle. The dictionary definition talks about generating an income that is sufficient to sustain a lifestyle, but no more. Steve certainly didn't start Apple because he wan…
Maybe leading and inspiring talented people to build world-changing products was Steve's preferred lifestyle.
Re: Steve Jobs' memo to startups
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
We started it to sell. We were not interested in online stores. Some of the problems were kind of interesting, but neither I nor Robert nor Trevor thought of Viaweb as our life's work. Incidentally, building a business to sell doesn't mean it can't be sustainable. Viaweb made Yahoo lots of money.
> We were not interested in online stores. Some of the problems were kind of interesting, but neither me nor Robert nor Trevor thought of Viaweb as our life's work. 'How to find your "life's work"' might make a great essay. I think the majority of founders find themselves a few years in working on ideas they aren't crazy about. In a sense founders get married to ideas too young, realize it's not a perfect fit, and th…