Business 101: Introduction to Business

9 May 2016
Pirates of Silicon Valley: A Study in Entrepreneurship
Steve Jobs was a pioneer in the world of consumer electronics in both his roles as an

entrepreneur and a CEO. He was a major player in helping personal computers reach your

average person. The entrepreneurial qualities he exhibited and the talents and skills he possessed

not only helped but were instrumental in creating the company Apple as we see it today.

Thankfully he was such a gifted man because his path was not always an easy one. There were

many hurdles, including competitors, he and his team had to pass in order to realize their goals.

Apple computer started small with a brilliant mind, Steve Wozniak, and a visionary leader, Steve

Jobs with the idea that they were going to put their computers in everybody’s homes.

In order for Apple to exist, it needed the skill of a computer/electronic engineer and the

talent of a natural salesmen. Steve Wozniak was that engineer. He got the skills necessary to

create the first Apple 1 through tinkering at home and through his studies in electrical

engineering and computer science. (Bellis) Apple also needed the ability to sell the computers.

As we saw, Steve was that businessman. His eloquence and the ease with which he navigated a

conversation were highly praised by the Wozniak actor in the movie. He spear-headed the

demonstration at the Palo Alto-based Homebrew Computer Club and created their first orders,

not Wozniak. (Bellis) Now that the necessary components towards Apple’s future had been

assembled, they could move the company forward into manufacturing the product, but it turned

out harder than they hoped.

Apple computer started small, and was beset with trouble before they could get off the

ground. The biggest obstacle they faced was creating the products they had been commissioned
to make. Both Wozniak and Steve had made sacrifices to create the prototype. “Steve Wozniak

sold his HP scientific calculator, and Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen van.”, in order to raise

$1,300 for the Apple 1. (Bellis) With a consumer base already targeted and real demand being

shown enthusiastically, obtaining a loan should have been a simple task, but every bank turned

them down. This has been attributed more to Steve’s aesthetics than the ideas behind the

business. He made several errors when he was soliciting for a loan. Principally the presentation

lacked what banks desired from an entrepreneur; Steve did not to conform to what a loan officer

wanted to see. Thusly, they could not share in Steve’s vision on the products being sold.

Eventually, an investor sought them out and got them off the ground, offering over $200,000 to

get into the business. Now Apple was beginning to take shape, but it took Steve’s

entrepreneurship to take it from Wozniak’s invention to the first iteration of the Macintosh.

Steve wanted to become a household name. He wanted something he had created in every

home. He would do anything it took to actualize his dreams. These are the qualities of an

entrepreneur. The original product wasn’t very appealing to an average consumer. It would

require skill and knowledge not possessed by the average person to use what they originally

created, but, after a little help from the competition, they created a product everyone would want,

the Macintosh. A Macintosh was a new thing in computing; it was user friendly, but it wasn’t

Steve’s genius that originally made that feature possible. Steve’s entrepreneurial skills of

speaking to businessmen and his desire to succeed allowed them to gain audience with the

engineer’s at Xerox and steal ideas, the first GUI (graphical user interface) and input tool, the

mouse. Those are the pillars of what a computer user friendly. Lastly, he took on the Microsoft

team to help them develop software who then stole ideas from apple. This was a risk, and he

knew that. The brilliance of Apple engineers saved themselves from some of the damage. They
created a code that was not universally compatible. Bill gates was able to manipulate Steve using

one of Steve’s own successful ideas. He called Apple a family. He created a corporate climate

and culture that produced results. Although a great management success, this same idea that

instilled loyalty and dedication to his vision from employees allowed Bill Gates set up his

betrayal. Apple’s successes and failures rested on the shoulders of their competitors. Sometimes

Steve was the shark, and other times he was the fish. His skills and talent as a leader and

entrepreneur were responsible in both instance.

Steve was a true entrepreneur. There is no question Apple wouldn’t be the company it is

today without him. He was just as instrumental in bringing macs to customers as Wozniak was.

Although Wozniak created the product, Steve was the one who sold it, and that is the true sign of

an entrepreneur. His thirst for success kept him going after many setbacks like the financing

trouble and Bill Gates’ stealing. Without his skills to sell an idea, Apple would have been dead in

the water at the first showing of the Apple 1, but he had the entrepreneurial skills and talents to

make apple the tech Giant it is today.

References
Bellis, Mary. Steve Wozniak. 16 December 2014. 09 May 2016.
<http://inventors.about.com/od/Computer-Geek/p/Steve-Wozniak.htm>.