You've never heard of Steve Jobs. Quotations: If Apple is not so alone, it may be more successful

It is equally important to decide what not to do and decide what to do. --Jobs, 1997

Tren Griffin the beginning of his blog post with Steve Jobs, to tell the reader that the discussion in this article will be limited to what jobs has given him about business (not his personality, etc.). At the same time, it is important for Steve Jobs to say these words to understand his words.

1. In terms of computer hardware, if the boss is lucky, the best staff and the average employee may be the difference between 2 and 1. In the automotive industry, it may also be the difference between 2 and 1. But in the software world, good programmers are at least 25 and 1 different in general. The secret to my success is that we only hire the best people in the world. Especially when you're in a field where differences can reach 25 to 1, young people, that's definitely worth it. "1995"

The problem is, on the hardware, you can't make a computer that's twice as good as everyone else, and too many people know what to do. Maybe if you're lucky, you can make twice or one-second times better hardware than anyone else, but after six months, you'll catch up. But the software is different, and the fact is, I think we've achieved a leap in software that's at least five years ahead of our peers. "1994"

The phenomenon described by jobs, in particular the combination of supply-side economies of scale and demand-side economies, created myths. This shows that the electronic product industry is non-linear in terms of output. Once the products offered by the merchant are digitized, a small advantage tends to result in a "winner-all".

The power-law distribution in business is also related to this "winner-all" phenomenon. The great wealth of the founders of a handful of technology companies is one result of this phenomenon. Another example is that the power-law distribution in VC bonds and the financial returns between venture capitalists are part of the Black Swan theory (unpredictable, significant rare events, unexpected but changed). Fiscal results tend to create unequal income distribution as a new phenomenon, just as the rich are richer, similar to historical records. The new part is that the digital system is the accelerator of the Matthew Effect (richer) phenomenon.

This is not an article on technology, but it's worth noting that the second piece of hardware is what Steve Jobs said in 1994. NeXT, a computer company founded after Apple's dismissal in 1985, has just pulled out of the hardware industry in 1993, so jobs has narrowed the big picture to a software company. The iphone was released in 2007, and is Steve Jobs contradicting himself? Another wise friend pointed out:

"The irony is that it's the hardware that makes the iphone stand out." In particular, larger screens and more sensitive touch are needed than any previous phone. Without innovative hardware, multitouch and iOS systems are meaningless at all. ”

Mr Jobs's message may be that software is another factor that keeps Apple's walls up for longer. Hardware does provide some considerable advantages, but this advantage is not as great as software, so hardware innovation must be durable. In other words, jobs may be saying that the barriers to hardware are more precarious and therefore require constant innovation. Hardware "twice or one-second times stronger than your opponent" is also an advantage. How good would it be if we could just ask him in person?

2. If we don't eat ourselves, we will be eaten by others. "from the Isaacson version of Jobs autobiography, 2013"

In an environment that conforms to the Black Swan theory, powerful non-linear phenomena can help you, or you can destroy everything instantly. A mistake that may have been committed many years ago will eventually lead to serious financial losses. Bill Gates said to me many years ago, "those things that make me work and worry about" are things that could bring down the power of the net effect.

3. If you are hungry for knowledge, be foolish in modesty. "2005"

Nassim Taleb, in his book anti-fragility, writes, "This is probably what Steve Jobs said in his famous California speech, that when you see the upper limit of an event, you should be crazy while maintaining a rational choice." Any attempt or error can be seen as a result of a choice, and in the long-time a person can identify the best outcome and keep working on it. I wrote recently that in the VC industry, you can reap the benefits of an alternative to creating economic returns. "Thirst for knowledge" is to keep an eye on the opportunity, to wait patiently, but to strike quickly when the time is right. "Modesty" refers to the challenge of traditional wisdom when there is a great potential for climbing and a relatively small landslide.

4. In everything we do, I always want to have and control the most basic technology. "2004"

because Woz and I started the company as two people do everything, we are not particularly good at cooperating with others. I think Apple will do better if it can have more co-operative parts in its genes. "2005"

we have to give up the idea that Apple wins and Microsoft has to lose. The idea we need is for Apple to win, and Apple has to be really good. It would be great if other companies could help us. "1997"

People like Steve Jobs, John Maron and Ellen Mouske and anyone in the tech industry understand the business issues associated with wholesale transfer pricing. Simply put, wholesale transfer pricing is a company's low price to provide a unique product XYZ to company B, so that a company can increase the wholesale price to profit from Company B. Before the iphone, Jobs had a dominant way of rejecting the wholesale transfer pricing power of music holders in the Ipod/itunes business model.

5. Apple's core is not cost-cutting. Apple's core is to innovate from the awkward predicament. "2004"

Many companies choose to streamline their institutions, and perhaps that is the right thing for them. But we chose a different path. "2010"

In the technology industry, the cessation of investment in research and development implies an unavoidable, often non-linear, decline. There are a lot of companies that pay the price for their own stock buybacks rather than for investment research and development, which is tantamount to eating the seeds they've worked on for a long time, a near-suicide with a huge range of negative effects.

6. A small thing can take years. It takes at least five years to do any big thing, and it's more likely to be 7-8 years. "1995"

Too many founders don't know what promises they make when they start a business. It takes years to create something really good. Yes, in the last few years, a handful of people have tried SaaS (software as a service), but first, it's not universal, and second, there's no Apple, Microsoft, or Google-influenced company. The opposite of this view is that not every company must change the world. It's good to have a small, profitable company. Not every company has to get VCs.

7. My management model is the Beatles style. I say this because every member of their band is preventing others from going astray, a mechanism similar to mutual censorship. At the time of their dissolution, they could not make good works completely. This is a small team of chemical reaction, its chemical reaction effect than simple addition and effect is much better. So Lennon prevented McCartney from being too trendy, and the latter prevented the former from drifting to Cloud nine, a dream combination. As for Harrison, I feel that in the late he is a great part of the band's soul. I don't know what drummer Starr did. "2003"

It was a bit confusing, but he did say so it's worth thinking about. A friend who was familiar with Jobs said that old Joe was looking for McCartney's "control" and that he adored Lennon. The way jobs interacts with others is not like the Beatle band. What he meant was more like saying that everyone on earth has strengths and weaknesses, and that different personalities can balance each other and thus form a very powerful team. By having a diverse team--including complete skills and talents--if you work well together, the team's output will be much more than the simple number of work pieces combined. This magical effect may be positive and may be negative. Bruce Dunlevie, a venture capitalist, once said that every once in a while there will be a very unique team to emerge, and then the magical things will happen. These chemical reactions are never identical, but there are always some traits that are similar.

8. Creativity is about connecting things together. When you ask creative people how they do things, they always feel a little guilty, because they don't really do anything, they just see something. After a while, everything seems to be clear. "1996"

back to the beginning again ... I am also free to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. "2005"

There are a lot of things that inspire my creativity, but sometimes it's hard to see what's right in front of you. For example, Jobs said:

In the last few years of next, I really understood two things that I saw in the 1976 Xerox Parker Research Center: One of course the plane interaction, and the other, the sophisticated personal computer network I'm now talking about, the interpersonal computing. (Interpersonal computer interaction). At Parc, they have 200 computers connected by e-mail and file servers that form an online cooperative area they use every day. I didn't realize it, because I was just so excited about the plane interaction.
It took me, in a way, to spend a decade in the industry, and finally a huge breakthrough in the second thing-using computers to help people work together rather than just treating it as a word processor or an isolated tool. "1991"

When I wrote the article, I found that people especially like and very good at learning from metaphor. Connecting things in different ways is not only a good way to inspire creativity, but also a good way to transfer knowledge. I have to quote Charlie Munger said: "Only learn how to learn, you will progress." There was nothing in my long life that benefited me more than continuous learning. "When Steve Jobs said," Go back to the beginning (becoming a beginner), I strongly doubt that he is elaborating on the view of monk Suzuki Shunryu: "There are many possibilities in the minds of beginners, but few in an expert's mind. ”

9. I think the Apple computer is a little bit better, that is, people who work with it happen to be the best computer scientists in the world, who might have been musicians, poets, artists, zoologist or historians. "1996"

This idea is still a consistent Charlie Munger "intellectual model" philosophy: "What is the foundation of worldly wisdom?" In fact, the first rule is that if you just remember some individual facts and try to remember them, you don't really know anything. This format is not very useful if knowledge cannot be linked together to form a theoretical grid. You have to know some of the big concepts in the theoretical framework and then use all rather than a few of these concepts. A lot of people are trained to be a model--in economics, they all try to solve all the problems in the same way. "Many professors only consider their own theory and think that it is omnipotent. For example, a nutritionist may think he can heal everything, or a chiropractor thinks he can cure depression. This is the typical feature of "people with hammers", who feel that "everything looks like a nail", although it may not be a nail. In the words of Philip Tetlock, sometimes becoming a professional is not a good generalist.

10. People think that concentration means to say yes to what you are already concentrating on. But not necessarily. It is also possible to say no to only 100 good ideas. You must choose carefully. "2004"

innovative methods will say no to 100 things. It may be for both the company and the product. We are always thinking about which new markets are accessible, but only by saying no, you can focus on what really matters. "1998"

Focus is very helpful. Focusing on something that can be done is not so much a task as creating a trade barrier. Bill Gurley also pointed out: "If everyone is right, only the pursuit of the right will not guarantee excellent performance." ”

11. I believe that about half of all the factors that distinguish successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful ones are purely diligence. "1995"

I've talked about missionary and money-greedy entrepreneurs in the past blog post. Missionaries are often more diligent and more likely to create a company that has far-reaching influence or changed the world. Bill Gates once said: "We are born more optimistic, suitable for the creation of large companies." Each of our myths about creating products and learning new things comes true. Of course, the opponents have also achieved. "If I could turn a fly on a wall and fly back to a conversation that changed the tech world, I would choose the last meeting between Gates and Steve Jobs." Finally, when Silicon Valley marketing leader Regis McKenna introduced Steve Jobs to the venture's Don Valentine, the latter asked, "Why did you send this human traitor to me?" Here he uses "traitor" to describe Steve Jobs as a man who breaks the routine and creates new values for the world.

You've never heard of Steve Jobs. Quotations: If Apple is not so alone, it may be more successful