Steve Jobs Presentation

[zak forrest]

I thought this was fantastic enough to share here.

Near the end of the clip, hearing Steve's philosophies, and on obsolescence and the customer, I can't help but to be reminded of Jim and Red

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

I think it's interesting to note how there are always "easy entry" points for industries. Apple's startup costs were about $1,300 for a board layout. Now if you want to create a new computer layout it's millions upon millions. That time has certainly passed for cameras as well. I think Jim has spent a pretty penny on releasing a competitive motion picture camera. I wonder what new technology right now has huge potential but small barriers to entry. Software?

 

[Justin McAleece]

I guess the obvious answer (though not exactly what you are asking) is films. They can have remarkably low start-up costs which can evolve into a hugely profitable franchise. Which, in a way is the same thing.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

I guess the obvious answer (though not exactly what you are asking) is films.

Mmmm..... I would disagree.

2 guys and $1,300 isn't going to get you very far today with a movie. Cast, crew, camera, lights, lenses, music. My personal philosophy is to *ALWAYS* count people's time as an expense even if they don't charge me for it. If I make an indie film and 10 people helped me out for a week and someone later asks me what it cost to make I say "$15,000+". People's time is valuable. And I don't consider a film where everyone donated their time and doesn't get paid back a financial success. It's fine for passion projects but it's not sustainable. I would love to make films in a fashion that pays people what their time is worth.

If Apple had sold all of their computers at cost and not factored in their time they would have been out of business in a week. Because they were able to make money from the start they were able to keep going. If Jim wasn't making money we wouldn't be seeing a Dragon sensor coming out. And if the Dragon sensor didn't make money we wouldn't see the next generation. If your films don't ever start making money you're indulging in recreation, which is fine but a different beast all together.

Take a look at pixar. In order to get pixar to the point where they released Toy Story took enormous capitol investments on the part of George Lucas and Steve Jobs.

 

[Marc Wielage]

Take a look at pixar. In order to get pixar to the point where they released Toy Story took enormous capitol investments on the part of George Lucas and Steve Jobs.

I agree with your points. And in Walter Isaacson's recent Steve Jobs biography, I believe he says that Lucas sunk more than $20 million into Pixar, only to later sell it to Jobs at a loss for $5 million. Over the next few years, I think Jobs poured even more money into Pixar, certainly more than $20 million, before Toy Story was produced. It's ironic that the Pixar hardware failed, and Jobs' NeXT computer system was essentially a failure, but Pixar was eventually worth more than $7 billion.

There's a whole book devoted to Steve Jobs' speeches and demos, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. Jobs was a very dynamic guy with incredible charisma, and knew how to milk the right reaction out of a crowd. "Just one more thing" alone was worth the price of admission.

 

[Anthony Gratl]

Jobs was a very dynamic guy with incredible charisma, and knew how to milk the right reaction out of a crowd

Depends which crowd......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Apple_Inc.

 

[Marc Wielage]

According to most published reports, Jobs was also a terrible human being, extremely insensitive, capable of being arrogant, and a demanding bully who treated employees and critics very badly on many occasions. That doesn't detract from his brilliance as a businessman, and also a technologist with great taste. I'm currently reading a book that characterizes Jobs as a "productive narcissist," which I think is a fairly accurate depiction: somebody who believes their interests are better and more important than anybody else's. In Jobs' case, I think he was right most of the time and had a huge impact on the world of computers, telephones, music, and film. But not a fun guy to hang out with.

 

[Scott Crawley]

In hindsight it may seem like a simple thing that they were doing with a low barrier of entry, but I have to wonder just how many people in the world at the time could have done it. Who had both the idea, and necessary skill set to succeed? Like the film analogy it is the idea that has value, but only when coupled with the required skills and tools is there a chance for that idea to be realized and it's value become tangible.

By Gavin's reckoning their first project cost more than $1,300. Jobs said they spent 40+ hours each... So what does 80+ hours of brilliance cost? What's it worth? I dunno, just a thought.

Mmmm..... I would disagree.

2 guys and $1,300 isn't going to get you very far today with a movie. Cast, crew, camera, lights, lenses, music. My personal philosophy is to *ALWAYS* count people's time as an expense even if they don't charge me for it. If I make an indie film and 10 people helped me out for a week and someone later asks me what it cost to make I say "$15,000+". People's time is valuable. And I don't consider a film where everyone donated their time and doesn't get paid back a financial success. It's fine for passion projects but it's not sustainable. I would love to make films in a fashion that pays people what their time is worth.

If Apple had sold all of their computers at cost and not factored in their time they would have been out of business in a week. Because they were able to make money from the start they were able to keep going. If Jim wasn't making money we wouldn't be seeing a Dragon sensor coming out. And if the Dragon sensor didn't make money we wouldn't see the next generation. If your films don't ever start making money you're indulging in recreation, which is fine but a different beast all together.

Take a look at pixar. In order to get pixar to the point where they released Toy Story took enormous capitol investments on the part of George Lucas and Steve Jobs.

Aren't a great deal of brilliant people depicted as impatient, intolerant, apparently self absorbed and socially inept? I think much of that is the product of perception; these folks are driven and focused and often don't take the time to deal well with people when they are working, so they are abrupt. People scorned tend to be spiteful and therefore vocal and shall we say prone to exaggeration?

It has also been said that if you were of interest to Jobs (and I presume that meant you had similiar interest and insight) that his level of care, kindness and attention were likewise intense. When and if you were one of those people, I bet you found Jobs to be immensely charming. Ask Wozniak.

I'm currently reading a book that characterizes Jobs as a "productive narcissist," which I think is a fairly accurate depiction: somebody who believes their interests are better and more important than anybody else's. In Jobs' case, I think he was right most of the time and had a huge impact on the world of computers, telephones, music, and film. But not a fun guy to hang out with.

Amuzing, type Woz on an Apple device and the auto correct fills in his full name.

 

[Scott Crawley]

Of interest to me is how the Obsolescence notion turned out for both Apple and Red. It started as an ideal, became an investment in their early adopters, and ended partially in failure. Failure in the idea that their first products would never become obsolete, but a resounding success in the loyal following that resulted.

Sharing the cost of that first upgrade with their customers may have cost a bit, but ultimately the investment pays back in spades. It should be a lesson to all young businesses.

The second bit of interest is how Apple has done a 180 on the one person, one machine idea. Once again we are hearing about shared computing, a mainframe or "The Cloud". I guess it is a normal part of the cycle.

 

[Anthony Gratl]

Mmmm..... I would disagree.

2 guys and $1,300 isn't going to get you very far today with a movie. Cast, crew, camera, lights, lenses, music. My personal philosophy is to *ALWAYS* count people's time as an expense even if they don't charge me for it.

I guess you're not one of those 2 guys, Gavin, cause I bet someone will pull it off.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

By Gavin's reckoning their first project cost more than $1,300. Jobs said they spent 40+ hours each... So what does 80+ hours of brilliance cost? What's it worth? I dunno, just a thought.

You have to go into a project assuming that you're going to risk your own time. I'm talking about other people. Note they *PAID* a friend who did board layouts for his time to do their design. They didn't have him do it as a favor to them. The analogy to that would be paying your talent.

And when the project is all said and done, if they hadn't made enough profit off of their 80+ hours to keep going then they would have been spending money and time to work. Which again as a recreational endeavor is fine, but it's not very sustainable if you have to then go work a 40+ hour week somewhere else. I want my projects to be not only creative but financial successes so that I can continue to do it with minimal distraction and compromise.

If Job's and Woz's $1,300 investment hadn't been successful financially they never would have released the iPhone or the Mac Book or anything else. They would be building White-Label PCs maybe somewhere in northern California. It was their financial success that gave them the resources to make real and meaningful contributions to R&D necessary to accomplish what they did.

I guess you're not one of those 2 guys, Gavin, cause I bet someone will pull it off.

I'm sure you could make a sappy drama about kids overdosing on drugs for cheap but no much else. That's what, 1 day camera rental? Good luck.

 

[Anthony Gratl]

Y

I'm sure you could make a sappy drama about kids overdosing on drugs for cheap but no much else. That's what, 1 day camera rental? Good luck.

I guess you didn't get the play on "I'm that one guy."

Comparing making money at art with deliberately trying to make money as an entrepreneur is pointless.

Keep in mind that the "We only had 1300 bucks story is part of the myth-making". They still needed food and shelter and the rest of it.......

 

[Marc Wielage]

It has also been said that if you were of interest to Jobs (and I presume that meant you had similiar interest and insight) that his level of care, kindness and attention were likewise intense. When and if you were one of those people, I bet you found Jobs to be immensely charming. Ask Wozniak.

Read Isaacson's book (the #1 best-seller in America for 2011). Wozniak tells the infamous story where Jobs screwed him over on a bonus check from Atari, very early in their friendship. I think it's fair to say that Woz has mixed feelings on his late friend.

Again, getting back to the original point, there's no question that Jobs had enormous skill conducting presentations, building suspense, wowing the crowds, and seducing audiences, investors, and even market analysts. But some of that is wrapped up in his "Reality Distortion Field," where he'd convince something impossible during a one-to-one discussion, then after he left, everybody would say, "Jobs is crazy! What he asks for can't be done!"

It's also fair to say that Jobs tended to dole out praise very rarely, and a lot of his employees on a very tight rope. Many ex-employees have talked about Jobs' "sh!t/perfect" seesaw, where one day he'd slam whatever you said as utter garbage, then the next day, praise your idea as "absolutely perfect." There was also a lot of "not invented here" philosophy at Apple, where often they'd reject ideas simply because they were too similar to something already being done at Microsoft and other competitors.

I'm a big Mac fan, and have bought and used their products for more than 25 years, but I don't wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to the occasional mistakes in what they did (and sometimes still do), nor have I always been happy with how the company has been run. I also share the feelings of many LA pros who are concerned about the longterm availability of Mac desktops as well as Apple's commitment to the pro audio & video market.

 

[Harva Raj]

Read Isaacson's book (the #1 best-seller in America for 2011)

Page 77 , $250,000 from VC,Mike Markkula in 1976 that really launched Apple. Not the $1300...

 

[Scott Crawley]

You have to go into a project assuming that you're going to risk your own time. I'm talking about other people. Note they *PAID* a friend who did board layouts for his time to do their design. They didn't have him do it as a favor to them. The analogy to that would be paying your talent.

Sure you put in your own time, but you should also account for it. That was the point.

Read Isaacson's book (the #1 best-seller in America for 2011). Wozniak tells the infamous story where Jobs screwed him over on a bonus check from Atari, very early in their friendship. I think it's fair to say that Woz has mixed feelings on his late friend.

I have it but haven't started it yet, though I've heard many of Woz's stories. I'm certainly looking forward to the read.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Sure you put in your own time, but you should also account for it. That was the point.

Ah! Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you meant you shouldn't account for others' time since they were donating their own time. We're in agreement! Everyone's labor should be accounted for.