Lessons About Entrepreneurship and Starting a Company
SUMMARY OF JOBS 2013 MOVIE – LESSONS ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND STARTING A COMPANY
WRITTEN BY
DUROTOYE, TAIWO
WITH APPLICATION NUMBER: 170000440
EDS 911 ASSIGNMENT
COURSE LECTURER: DR.OLUWATOBI STEPHEN.
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF PHD IN CIVIL ENGINEERING.
NOVEMBER, 2017.
The following lessons were learnt about Steve Jobs entrepreneurial skills and the Apple Company:
- HAVE SINGLEMINDED DETERMINATION AND BE FOCUSED.
From the very beginning of the movie, you can tell that Steve Jobs was a bit different. He dropped acid, cheated on his girlfriend, went to India, and sat-in on college courses without paying. Not only was Jobs different, but he gravitated to others who were strange, others with obsessions. You could label them as ‘enthusiasts” but it is more about having a single-minded determination and focus.
For example, Woz was a member of the Homebrew Computer Club, a fringe group of electrical hobbyists that believed in the social power of computers to connect and enable humanity. Back then, that idea sounded crazy, but this fringe group had the skill and knowledge to make it possible. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, but have no marketable skills, go to your local do it yourself (DIY) meeting or go to a place in which people with shared interests can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas and knowledge. You can learn something new, and find co-founders who may want to partner with you to bring their idea to life. Also, these groups may contain some of your first customers.
- PUT CUSTOMERS FIRST.
Apple had its first customer before it was even a company. Paul Terrell ran a small computer parts store in the Valley and agreed to retail the Apple I. Jobs and Woz were in way over their heads before they even started. They needed to ship 50 boards in two months. They didn’t have the parts, they didn’t have the labor, and the prototype still needed some work. It was do or die.
The story of Steve and Woz’s first customer illustrates that you can never be ready for starting a business; you must constantly adapt and hustle to get things done. Their first customer also taught them some essential lessons for the future.
- OVERSELL AND OVER DELIVER.
In the movie, Steve Jobs is approached by Paul Terrell who still wants to buy the Apple I after a fumbling presentation. Jobs immediately began underselling by saying that there are others interested in the Apple I (in truth there were none), but he had stop by the shop. He walks into the shop the next day and immediately began bargaining with such confidence that Terrell is taken aback and agrees to a large sale.
This salesmanship is repeated again when Mike Markkula comes to invest. Steve is quick and never loses his cool in the face of defeat or success. He renegotiates the contract to better benefit Apple and shows that Markkula isn’t dealing with amateurs.
By knowing the industry, and finance, you can make investments and sales work to your benefit. Steve knew that he needed some money in advance in order to build the Apple I. He worked out the pricing beforehand and oversold the computer to make a profit.
The last thing any entrepreneur should do is give up equity in your company. Steve knew that at a $300,000 evaluation, $90,000 is less than 1/3 of the company. At a certain point, it was this lack of control that ended Steve’s position at Apple. This happens over and over again to founders so be ready for it. Be indispensable to your company.
Overselling is nothing without delivering. Jobs delivered 50 motherboards to Terrell who immediately critiqued how they weren’t packaged products. Jobs countered by saying that Terrell could move more inventory by selling to hobbyists because he had all the components in shop, therefore he could make money. Without that quick counter, Apple would have ended as soon as it started. They under-delivered to their first customer. Terrell had taught them a lesson: customers only care about the final product and how simple and accessible it is to use.
- EVERY DETAIL MATTERS.
It is not the overall product that the customer remembers, but the little experiences that go with it. Only take projects at which that you can excel. Always produce terrific work, this means that you should say no to 99% of the things that come to you. For that 1%, hit it out of the park by crafting delightful user experiences that change the way people interact with the world.
The first thing that Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple as CEO is to cut all the projects that weren’t innovating. They were the projects that were clones of what other companies were doing, projects that were focused on product, not user experience.