Pirates of the Silicon Valley
What are the factors that contributed to the success and failure of Steve Jobs as a technopreneur?
First of all, what is technopreneur? According to some articles, technopreneurs are entrepreneurs who are into the core businesses involving technology-based industries. They make use of technology to come out with new or innovative products through a process of commercialization. The businesses are generally marked with high growth potential and high leverage of knowledge and intellectual property. Potential Technopreneurs must be equipped with both technical and business skills like Steve Jobs. Steve Job is a very well-known man. He is well-known for his Apple computers and he is one of the wealthiest people. Although he died already, now, he is still being remembered by his great works and innovations. Just like any other successful people in the world, Steve Jobs started small. He and his company started creating computers in his parent's garage. In there, they were breaking their sweats to create computers and eventually they grew and became successful. And of course, there are also many positive and negative things that have come along in their journey and that are part of the technopreneur’s life. Being a technopreneur is not an easy passion. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak encounter difficulties in proposing their new invented technology. They are unknown to the crowd and do not have the reputation to be trusted in introducing their invention to the big business industry. But still they pursue it by introducing their product to a convention, wherein lots of local handmade computers are at the event to gain customers and profits. Until they taste the success of establishing their own company.
In the first part of the movie, Steve Jobs shows he’s one of the successful characteristics. Being an “outside the box” thinker. When his friend - Steve Wozniak, invented the blue box machine, and approach Captain Crunch, who discovered that the whistle toy in Crunch cereal has the same tone in AT&T’s long-distance equipment. They tested it and it works, getting free calls all over the world. Steve Jobs sells the blue box to the consumers and Steve Wozniak is creating for more. Because of Steve Jobs unique thinking skills, that’s the time he started being a technopreneur. As the time passes by, Steve Wozniak decided to create his own computer, which is also featured in the newspaper headlines and his mother is so proud of him. Steve Jobs finds it weird, but he helps Wozniak to finish it. At the Berkley, Jobs and Wozniak join the Homebrew Club to show their newly invented machine to the bunch of guys spent all their time to access big computers owned by local corporations. Because of Steve Jobs, being a good pitcher, he attracted 50 consumers to his product at that time only. See, how about when they reach the top? Also, he is ready to take down IBM, one of his opponents, showing competitive spirit in their future company. Steve Jobs sell’s more computers than those local companies who invented computers like the Altair 8000. IBM didn’t take it seriously because for them it is not a threat to their economic status. Until Jobs’ Company started to gain some reputation in the computer industry, the more his company grows, the more he needs more money. Being a risk taker, Steve Jobs loans some money in the bank, sells their newly invented computer, but the company refuses his garbage-like invention. “Garbage-like” because of having a weird a design and mostly companies that time didn’t understand the concept of having computers, for them computers is just nothing to the company. Also, perks of being a risk taker got more benefits. Like Steve Jobs’s apple computer company. Mike Markula from the Intel company invested in Jobs venture with a worth quarter-million dollars, expecting with a catch. Being passionate, Steve Jobs is so passionate about changing the old culture of society. Old culture means the paper thingy, wherein companies hire more workers to keep their business alive. Because of his passion, not only for money, Mark Markula makes a deal to invest in the company and it influences banks and other techno investors to invest also.
After time passes, because of those primary skills that Jobs showed. His apple computer is now an apple company. In Computer Fair, San Francisco, the apple company joined the fair expected to gain more people. As the crowd gathers at the Apple booth, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak taste the drop of success. Instead of coming to them to sell the product, people are coming to them to buy the product, that’s the effect of being an “outside the box” thinker, a good pitcher, has the competitive spirit, a risk taker and passionate to his career. As I said, “taste drop of success” because at the moment Jobs experience it, he will also experience a tide turn. As the company expands at a fast pace, Steve Jobs were praised by old people because of his success. On the next day, his girlfriend informed Jobs that they have a baby, but Jobs didn’t claim it. Having a bad mood, Jobs were called by his employee to inform him about the parity on BASIC of one of his employees. Being strict, he disgraces his employees and also didn’t accept people applying to them from another computer industry. That’s one of the reasons why Jobs is still in success, but too much strictness affects the company status. For Jobs, he is not randomly opening doors for the company because it might lose their success of the company and all sorts of bad things will come from their company. Stating the reason, Wozniak accepted it and considered it as a worthy decision. After all, Steve Jobs decided to upgrade their computer system by adopting XEROX graphic interface. Being resourceful, Jobs manage to win the situation in asking the XEROX Company about their graphical interface. Because of that, Job’s company created Macintosh after they released Lisa, a computer named after her daughter was born. Also, Jobs’s company is divided into two the Apple2 group and the Macintosh group. That causes the company to start tearing apart, employers fighting each other who are the best team in the company and for Jobs, creating a company is a mess. He also added, for him, molding employers are good in a company. Because of that, Steve Wozniak quit Apple Company, after he retains his memory back. He quit because Steve Jobs is not listening to him anymore, he wants to save his business friend from failure, but, for Jobs, he is successful and no one will fail him.
The failure. Steve Jobs also failed in being a technopreneur. He failed because of these factors: listen, be an open-minded person, the proper way to communicate with people and over confident. Listen, being a technopreneur needed a good listening skill because someday, one of the employers in your future company will recommend something for the betterment of the company or one of the applicants will surely help you with his spoken experiences. Also, having a good listening skill will help you to improve decision making, sometimes not we heard are always true to help your company and yourself. Like Bill Gates, he tricked Steve Jobs that they have this software that could defeat IBM. Because of Jobs not listening to Wozniak, Jobs offered the crown jewels of their company especially the newly produced Macintosh. If Jobs listen well to Wozniak, he could escape Bill’s destiny to destroy the Apple Company. Also, listening is paired with the open-mind ability to the possibilities. An open-minded person has the perk of understanding the scenario more visually and effectively, why? Because you accept the other’s opinion, which could help your destiny, also, do not forget to filter other’s opinion. In Steve Jobs case, he is not an open-minded person. He listens to his employers, but he won’t apply the employer’s idea. For him, he always sticks to his Idea which is also good for the company’s status, but, worse for the employer’s status. Worse, because of the factor that they were separated to the company’s objective. So, they were just a bunch of clay to be molded again. If Steve Jobs is an open-minded person, I think he would not fail his business partner - Steve Wozniak. Fail in a sense of developing the company and maintaining Jobs status. Way to communicate with people. For me, Steve Job’s has the problem in communicating with people, especially those who are close to him. Wozniak always understands him even though he triggered Jobs with some words. Being a technopreneur must be good at communicating with people not only in presenting ideas but also outside of the conference. Because a good communicator is a good leader. If Jobs communicate well his opinions and rules to the company, he would not let his company suffer. Suffer in a way of interacting with employers. He frankly speaks his opinion to the point that he destroys person’s reputation in front of the crowd. Overconfident. Steve Jobs is too confident of what he has especially to the Microsoft chairman – Bill Gates. Being confident to your competitors is good, but too much confident could kill your company, why? Because we don’t know what the competitors have. Maybe they have the idea to copy or idea that is better than yours and could kill your company. Like Bill Gates, after experiencing the overconfidence of Jobs, exposing the Macintosh to him. He is now one of the leaders of Apple industry and Jobs is his employer. See, technopreneurs must be humble because not all times you are successful.
Above all, nobody is perfect…
How do you see yourself as a technopreneur?
Actually, the question is so hard to answer because I’m not born to it. Born because my family runs a business and it is part of our family culture to know how to run a business. Businesses from small scale to large scale business and we are also taught by our parents to handle the real business scenario like what’s happening in the business, what does the business needs to improve sales and does the marketing strategy of the business improve the sales outcome per month. The first business that I handle, I’m not bragging guys, is small retail buy and sell product business. That is so nervous at first, but my parents are at my back to handle the heavy problems and they explain it to me after. Guys, maybe you are thinking that we are rich because of what I say, about handling business and it is part in our blood. Actually, we are not rich and we handle businesses, but the businesses that we handle are not from us. It is from our uncles and aunts businesses. They trusted our family to handle their businesses because of my mom’s attitude. She is a business minded person and she starts her business by putting up a successful neighborhood mini-mart. It lasted for 15 years because my mom is tired of handling it and because of that, we graduated from private high school, the family business expanded to PUJ business and able to renovate our house. Within 15 years, she already handled 3 businesses including her neighborhood mini-mart, but she is not stressed because she has time for herself and for us. Though there are ups and downs but I can see that my parents are risk takers and we also help them by not spending more money to our wants but spending it to our needs. Because of them, we also learn how to be practical in life. As the youth of a new generation and protégé of my parents, I might be an egg. Egg because I need to study what is Technopreneurship. Though it is easy to understand by words, yes, technopreneur is an entrepreneur who sells product by using technology, what I mean is studying the experience of dealing it real life and it is new to me and my family.
Upon enrolling IT, here in USeP, I already hear Technopreneurship subject from my higher year classmates. They said that you need ideas that are uniquely rare and possibly feasible in the future. Also, based on what I learn in previous Technopreneurship lessons that being technopreneur is not an easy passion because it takes a year to seriously develop brilliant ideas that could help the society and yourself. Also, you must learn how to survive in the sea of competitors, the especially 21st century is the remarkable era where technology improvement is on the fast pace. See, we are like to be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. I have innovative ideas, but base on my standards, my ideas are not good for selling it to the market or maybe I’m not good at selling ideas. For me, it takes one to two days to create ideas, creating only I did not mean creating feasible ideas. Applying the lessons from my parents to Technopreneurship subject, it is quite the same. The only reason why it is different? Because of the competition in creating ideas. Sometimes, I ask my parent about innovative ideas that can be applied in the mobile or desktop application, by the way, my parents basically understand how to use mobile phones and computers. They share knowledge, but it is not enough. I’m finding the brilliant or the crown jewel ideas that could help me. Suddenly, I realized that my knowledge is not enough in knowing what is the characteristics of being a technopreneur and why I needed those characteristics.
The characteristics of being a technopreneur: hard-working, self-confident, builds for the future, profit-oriented, goal-oriented, willing to listen, sets own standards, risk taker,and committed.
Hard working. Technopreneurs must require a lot of energy and drive. Involves the ability to work long hours when necessary, work intensely in bursts and to cope with less than a normal amount of sleep. I’m a hard working student and this characteristic is common to us because burning midnight candle is a must, but in terms of business, I think it’s hard to win the situation.
Self-confident. Technopreneurs must believe in themselves and in their ability to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. Just like Gates and Jobs, they are confident to deal business transactions. I don’t have self-confident in school and maybe it could affect my soon-to-be business.
Builds for the future. The goal for most successful business people is to build a secure job and income for themselves, which is based on their own abilities. This means technopreneurs understand that it may take several years to build up business income to a reasonable standard. Maybe, I’m good at this characteristic because I am a long-patient and I learned how to secure income from my parents.
Profit oriented. The main objective of the business is to generate money and it is a clear indicator of technopreneurs for being a business owner. For me, it is important to generate money and my parents tell me that jobs offered by the companies are not permanent to help you in your life.
Goal oriented. This is one of my fortes in life, being a goal oriented person. It is easy to set goals in business, but it is hard to achieve it. Hard, because I don’t want to step in failures. Also, setting realistic goals for business means success.
Willing to listen. The successful technopreneur is not an inward looking person that never uses outside resources. Self-reliance does not exclude the ability to ask for help when needed from such people as bank officials, accountants and business advisers. Being able to listen to the advice of others is a key characteristic of an entrepreneur. This is also one of the problems of Steve Jobs, as a successful technopreneur, he didn’t listen to his friend, which causes his company to fail. Relating myself, I’m a good listener and for me, a good listener is a good leader.
Sets own Standards. Base from what my parents learn in handling business, setting standards is a must because it helps you to achieve your goals. Standards can be income, quality, sales or product turnover. Every year, technopreneurs want their businesses to improve and stay alive at the top.
Risk taker. Being a technopreneur, risk taker is a must because the chance of success and the belief in oneself to make the risk is the payoff. It is common for a business minded person to take risks because it helps them to learn and improve more for the betterment of their businesses. I’m a risk taker, not only in academic but also in real life. Maybe this characteristic of being a technopreneur is well fitted to me.
Committed. Technopreneurship is not just a subject and it does not only involve in collecting money. It involves passion or commitment in helping to solve society’s problem through technology. This is one of my greatest problems, I usually commit things at the beginning, but at the end, I fail to maintain my commitment because I easily bored.
Base from the characteristics needed to become a technopreneur, I see myself as a beginner. Beginner because not all those characteristics fit me even though I learn some of the important matter about businesses from parents still it is not enough to be my reference in running this kind of business. Right now, I am focusing more on my studies than thinking about how to earn money. Studies first because my aim is to land a high-paying job also to make my parents proud of me. Maybe in the future, after I graduate, I will start my own business that involves technology concepts to learn more about the essence of handling it also its purpose in the society. Nowadays, having a business is a must because it could save you from relying on your salary. My parents also taught me that having a business feels like you’re the boss. You are the one who leads people and motivates them to their success. Also, I promise to myself that, if ever I become a technopreneur, I will change my characteristics, especially my passion for owning a business and also be updated with the technological trends. Because being a technopreneur is not an easy way. It is quite different from the type of an entrepreneur’s business because technology is not changed in a static way but in a dynamic way. Therefore, you need to work two times the capability of an entrepreneur to cater all your customers. Hopefully, I could do this with all my determination and heavenly blessings that will guide me to be one of the top teen-technopreneurs here in Davao, to make my parents, my professors and my society proud of me.
Would you take the same career path that Steve Jobs took? Why? Or why not?
Life is not easy, it is full of negative elements and thoughts that would push and pull you down. Until you reach the bottom and starts to realize what is the essence of life. Like Steve Jobs, his life is not easy. At the start, he doesn't know his parents but he was adopted by Paul and Clara. Learn technology by tinkering with his father, become a dropout and starts to encounter spiritual life. After that, he starts working at Atari and gain huge money by Woz’s Bluebox, free long-distance calls. Until he realized that he could beat big computer companies and started a start-up in their garage. After starting a start-up, his reputation and company’s reputation started to grow and Mark from Intel invest in their start-up. Gaining more customer, Jobs’ company developed so fast even his friend, Wozniak, didn’t know his workers. Old businessmen praised him well because of his status and age that qualifies him as a young technopreneur in that time. In the fast pace development of the company, Steve Jobs encounter problems that are unique, I call it unique because it doesn’t only affect company’s status but also his status, and need a wise decision. After encountering series of unique problems, Steve Jobs is still nailing his company to be the highest grossing company.
Now, Steve Jobs is dead because of health problem that suffers him for almost 9 months. His contribution to the world was a great memory, not because of his technology but his motivation and idea that change the world. If someone will ask me about being a next Steve Jobs, I will say No. No, not because of the tragic that Jobs experience but I want to learn it in my own way. Remember, it is part of our family to handle business and learn from it. If I will follow Steve Jobs career path, maybe I die earlier than Steve Jobs. Full of exaggeration, but we don’t know because what I’ve said in question number two that Steve Jobs has some characteristics, that fully align in Technopreneur’s ideal characteristics, that I don’t have and I possess characteristics that Jobs didn’t possess, it may be aligned in Technopreneur’s ideal characteristics or not. Looking at the positive bright side, I want to be a Technopreneur but not in Steve Jobs way. What I mean is that not following his philosophies and ideas in running his business but I will follow how he develops his positive characteristics in dealing the business. For me, Steve Jobs’ philosophies reflected from his personal experiences outside the business like longing for mother and father love. Because of his philosophies, his business output shows a negative effect in stabilizing its core, the workers. Based on the movie, workers in Apple company are treated like a trash. Steve Jobs is insensitive in saying words that could affect workers performance like “outsiders”. He used the word “outsider” when he brags his company from Bill Gates. Also, Steve Jobs implement abusive working time like 24/7, especially to his programmers. He doesn’t show empathy or thanks to his programmers. Until one of his programmers voiced out what they feel in Jobs’ strict rule working time, they all went under pressure. Because of longing for parents love, Steve Jobs create a new strategy for his company which is separating the macintosh and apple two workers. It creates chaotic decisions among workers, it was showed when Wozniak asked Steve about what is happening in their room and why they are throwing cans and foods to each other. Steve explained to Woz that is like family, having fun watching them and for him, fun is a fragment of existence with better packaging. That is one of the personalities of Steve Jobs that could make him lose his company because he brings the personal problem to the business area. According to my parents, problems must be separated from business except if the problem is concerned about the business status. In short, personal problems stays in the house and not in working place. Most of the time people don’t know how to separate their problems or how to place their problems which are bad for you and your surroundings. Moving on, for me, Steve Jobs idea in handling the business is quite literal and personal thing. Literal and personal because at first, he wants money, he is tired of suffering from being broke, and he wants to beat IBM, his number one personal enemy. Jobs must not set personal objectives over business objectives because it will lead your business to downfall like what Bill Gates have done to Jobs’ company. One of the best thing that Steve jobs has is his positive characteristic in maintaining the business. An example of his characteristic is ‘Building for the future mindset’. Having this mindset, he help lots of people and companies to develop further. One of the objectives of Technopreneur is to help the society and people to make a progress, it could create a job for the people who needed it and it could help to grow your country’s economy.
Above all, I thank Steve for giving eye-opening ideas to the world that helps to change our perspective. Nowadays, lots of millennials are exposed to what is business concepts. One of the examples is Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook. He is also a successful Technopreneur like Steve Jobs, undergoes different life struggle especially when his business gained fame. One of his famous quotes is “I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.” Most of the business minded millennial, follow the quotes description. They sell product through online or sell ideas through competition. Why I won’t follow Steve Jobs’ career path because I prefer Bill Gates mindset. His mindset is different from Job’s mindset. Bill Gates is a great risk taker, from small left-behind start-up to one of the greatest company on earth. Relating Technopreneur subject, Gates underwent through different large computer industries to analyze its environment, which is good in business competition. Base from what I’ve learned in Technopreneurship, understanding the environment is a must especially if there’s a competition exist. Bill Gates treats this part uniquely because he is not only observing his competitors but he understands them by going to their companies like what he did in IBM and Apple Company. Among the all successful technopreneurs in the world, I would like to take Bill Gates career path than Steve Jobs because Bill Gates saw the future of the company and the society which is essential to stay your business alive. Contradicting to Jobs, Gates also value his friends, because he knows that his friends will help him and it is his aces in the company. Not like Jobs, Jobs sometimes value his friend Wozniak and sometimes not because he only values the loyalty of his friends. Because of Gates point of view about competition and success, it helps me to be open-minded and to be aware once you taste your success. For Gates, success is a menace that fools smart people into thinking that they can’t lose. I always note that to myself because it's true like IBM and Apple were fools by Gates mouthful negotiations. They offer million dollars and their crown jewel products to Gates just to beat each other. Also, this is what I learned from our Technopreneurship subject – be wise and don’t be a fool. Like Gates, wise in balancing and negotiating stuff and he is not afraid of what he is dealing with. See, that is why Gates is unique than Jobs because he knows how to deal what is business and wise in dealing the business. He is persistent to his objectives and open to his friend’s opinion.
After all the comparison and similarities, If I have a business, my career path will depend on my hands. It depends if I will follow Jobs or Gates ideas but at the end, It always matter to me. Experience is the best teacher. All those successful technopreneurs learned a lot from their experience that is why we idolized or we believe them because they know part of the life. That is why I won’t take Steve Jobs’ career, not because Bill Gates crash the company but because I want to learn a lesson or experience what they experienced. Experience in the same track but different decision making. We don’t know that the things Jobs decided might be a quite different for me or for you, maybe I choose this destination for this specific purpose or maybe for something. Not only the experience will play the role of helping us to become one of the great technopreneurs but also philosophies and mistakes from past great technopreneurs will help us to understand in dealing business problems. As a young to-be-technopreneur, I believe on myself to be part of the technopreneur society and be one of the greatest technopreneurs someday.