Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Wozniak said building a tech empire was never the goal and that trying ideas did not have to be for obvious money. He described motivation centered on bringing a personal computer design to life and receiving recognition from other engineers for his creativity. After studying at UC Berkeley and working at Hewlett-Packard, he pitched his personal computer idea multiple times and was rejected. Those experiences made him more receptive to Jobs’ proposal to start their own company. He later advised graduates not to follow the same steps as others and to find ways to do something different.
"“When you try things, they don't have to be for obvious money,” Wozniak said earlier this month at a commencement address for Grand Valley State University. “When we started Apple, did I want to make money? Start a company? Start an industry? No.”"
"“I wanted other engineers or other computer people to look at my designs and say, 'Whoa' and appreciate me and my brilliance, 'How did he come up with these things?'”"
"In the 1970s, after taking a break from his degree program at University of California, Berkeley, Wozniak landed a job at Hewlett-Packard (HP), where he hoped to spend his career. But after pitching his personal computer idea to the company five separate times-and being turned down each time-he began warming to Jobs' suggestion that they strike out on their own."
"That decision ultimately laid the groundwork for Apple-and informed one of Wozniak's core messages to graduates: don't be afraid to take an unconventional path. “Don't follow the same steps as a million other people,” he said. “Think: 'Is there something I can do a little different?""
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]