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Essay on Steve Jobs at the Time He Started and Grew His Venture

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Steve Jobs's primary motivation for starting a business and the factors that led him to start the venture

For Steve, the motivation why he created a product was important. Steve Jobs was motivated by a passion for his job. He discovered what he loved to do early in life and co-founded a company that would allow him to focus on that. The primary motivation of Steve Jobs in creating the Mac is not money. There was an intrinsic value associated with the Mac. It was more than a way to amass millions of dollars. From the very beginning, it was about creating a product he would value. The Mac was the best thing that Steve’s team could build. Although he had been rejected he still loved what he did. Being able to face this kind of rejection and still want to continue down the same path shows that he had a true passion for his work.

There are a few factors that led Steve Jobs to start his venture of creating the Mac. Early childhood experiences are one of the factors that make Steve Jobs to start his venture of creating the Mac. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. Steve’s adoptive father, Paul Jobs was a machinist and fixed cars as a hobby. Jobs remembers his father as being very skilled at working with his hands. Jobs and his father worked on electronics in the family garage. Paul showed his son how to take apart and reconstruct electronics, a hobby that instilled confidence, tenacity, and mechanical prowess in young Jobs. Thus, this environment bought an impact on Jobs and it was one of the factors that influences him has the idea of creating a Mac. In his early childhood, he showed an early interest in electronics and gadgetry. He spent a lot of time working in the garage workshop of a neighbor who worked at Hewlett-Packard, an electronics manufacturer. Besides, Jobs also enrolled in the Hewlett-Packard Explorer Club. There he saw engineers demonstrate new products, and he saw his first computer at the age of twelve. He was very impressed and knew right away that he wanted to work with computers. So, the computer had given him the idea of creating of Mac in his venture.

Robert Palladino is also one the big influencer one Steve Jobs that led him to create Mac. He had an enduring influence on Jobs and the business empire he erected. Jobs sat in on Palladino's calligraphy class at Portland's Reed College, which eventually inspired the elegance for which Apple computers are renowned, the tech icon recalled in his famous 2005 commencement address at Stanford University. If Jobs had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. Jobs learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, and about what makes great typography great. He found it was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture and fascinating. That is the reason he applied it into his creation of Mac.

Last but not least, the co-founder of Apple Computer, Wozniak, Steve Jobs’s partner is also one of the factors that made Jobs to create the Mac. Wozniak is an American computer scientist best known as one of the founders of Apple and the inventor of the Apple II computer. Jobs and Wozniak both loved electronics and due to their common interest and both of them have an independent attitude about things in the world. Thus, Jobs decided to invent his Apple Computer with Wozniak with Wozniak's knowledge of electronics and Jobs marketing skills. Moreover, Wozniak had designed many computers, so he has experience of making computers.

Steve Jobs's goals at the time he started his venture and the sort of beliefs did he have

Steve Jobs’s goal was to change the world with his computers. Jobs' goal, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography “Steve Jobs,” was to build an enduring company that prioritized people. Everything else — products and profits — while still important, would be secondary.

His vision for Apple was a company that turned powerful technology into tools that were easy to use, tools that would help people realize their dreams and change the world for the better. Jobs believed that in order to achieve great success and create revolutionary changes in the world, we must learn to prioritize the intersection of technology and the humanities because that’s how the best ideas emerge. The other visionary, Steve Jobs and his friend Steve Wozniak started Apple Computer in Jobs’s garage in Los Altos, California, in 1976. In contrast to Bill Gates, Jobs and Wozniak were hardware experts and started with a vision for a personal computer that was affordable to use.

Another tenet of Jobs’ philosophy was based on his belief that the computing experience should be easy to use and intuitive. That was embodied in his decision to follow early user interface designs created at Xerox Parc and with the Mac, popularized that graphical user interface. He also “borrowed” ideas from Xerox PARC and introduced a mouse, which made working with a graphical user interface easy. In decades of conversations with Apple executives and engineers, it is clear that the culture of innovation and ease of use has guided Apple in everything it does in terms of hardware, software, and even services. This is part of the DNA passed down by Steve Jobs and is the main reason why Apple continues to succeed even today.

Steve Jobs has faith in people. He believes people is smart and good and if he gives them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them. Before Jobs entered Apple's headquarters, he began to believe and trust in the best capabilities of Jobs' engineers and other knowledge workers. In Apple's recruitment practice, he pre-advocated a culture of trust in autonomy and empowerment. Indeed, Steve Jobs knew how to 'instantly instill enthusiasm for creating breakthrough products for Apple employees, and believed that they could accomplish what seemed impossible.

Moreover, Jobs felt that a core component of design simplicity was making products intuitively easy to use. Sometimes a design can be so sleek and simple that a user finds it intimidating or unfriendly to navigate. Jobs repeatedly emphasized that Apple’s mantra would be simplicity. He wants to make their products bright and pure and honest about being high-tech. Those products will be going to package cleanly so that consumers know they are high-tech. These products fit in a small package and then make them beautiful and white, just like Braun does with its electronics. For Steve, quality was certainly defining habit of Steve Jobs. He always feels quality is much better than quantity, one home run is much better than two doubles. It was a consistent theme that ran throughout his career at Apple, NeXT, and PIXAR. In fact, quality was a genuine obsession that followed Jobs in all his endeavors. He surpassed normal supervisor standards to ensure that his products went beyond the consumer’s expectations.

Steve Jobs is famous for the invention of the iPod and iPhone, but his other great invention is the home computer. Many people do not have a computer at home, but Steve changed this situation. He was one of the first to invent the computer for the whole family to use in his own home. Before this, people just used computers at work. Later, he also made many popular Apple laptops and has been making them thinner and newer. Steve Jobs is a truly talented person. His invention has influenced the world in many ways.

Sort of resources (not just financial) Steve Jobs has when he started his venture

Jobs began to move mountains at age 21 when he and Wozniak started Apple Computers in the Jobs family garage. To fund their venture, Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his scientific calculator. Jobs and Wozniak are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry with Apple by democratizing technology and making machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday consumers.

How concerned was Steve Jobs with control when starting the venture

Steve Jobs have his own way to control his company. Jobs exerted his control over every aspect of the business in the quest for perfection. Jobs encouraged a culture of strict accountability at all levels of the organization by meeting each Monday with executives to set the tone for the week. Run by a strict agenda, these meetings reviewed every single product under development. Employees were recruited into the company as specialists and put into roles that made the most of their specific strengths and abilities. Turnover was low despite the demanding corporate culture. Jobs was a passionate advocate for his vision and incredibly effective at communicating this to shareholders, customers and staff.

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He hired the right people and trusted them to perform. Jobs understood the cost of hiring the wrong people. He was heavily involved in major hiring decisions and remained so even after taking medical leave. Many people have a wealth of knowledge that allows them to make the right decisions in various situations, but you cannot be an expert in everything. The best leaders know what they do not know, and they will ask experts to help them plan their next move. Before Steve stepped into Apple's headquarters, he began to believe and trust his engineers with the best ability to produce. In Apple's recruitment practice, he pre-advocated a culture of trust in autonomy and empowerment.

He taught his employees about humility. Some people might get a chuckle out of this one, considering Jobs was known to have a certain degree of arrogance, but he also had the capacity to admit when he was wrong and change his opinion entirely. When Jobs first introduced the iPhone in 2007, for example, it was a closed system, no one outside of Apple could create an app for it. A year later, Jobs made a complete “180-degree reversal”. He opened the system to the public after realizing how much more the device could offer customers with apps written by anyone with a good idea. In a world of stark dichotomies, it’s good to be fearless about changing sides or altering courses.

After his return to Apple, Jobs would take his top employees on annual retreats. On the last day of each retreat, Steve Jobs stands in front of a whiteboard and ask his employees about the 10 things they should be doing next. People would fight to get their suggestions on the list. Jobs would list them down and then cross off the ones he decreed dumb. After that, the group would come up with a list of 10. Then, Jobs would slash seven of them and announce the selected list they could do. The theatrics of the activity was meant to teach his employees about focus. Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.

What was Steve Jobs's risk orientation when he started his venture

Steve Jobs had faced some challenges in his venture. Firstly, he faced a technology challenge. Judging from the functions of the iPhone 4S, Apple's radical and innovative machines seem to be out of control. From both physical attributes and technical capabilities, the new mobile phones are insignificant compared to the previous generation's products, rather than a fundamental improvement.

Secondly, he also faced leadership challenges. The company is in a leadership transition, which casts uncertainty on its future. Apple without Steve Jobs will be difficult to grow because he is a visionary leader, a person who understands technology, the market, and art, and can combine with all the sensational products. He has an attractive charm and can spread information to Apple followers to carry out effective and effective WOM and buzz activities.

According to Steve Jobs, another one of the biggest challenges that his company faced was that while their engineers were doing interesting work, that work sent the company in '18 different directions. Apple's employees had an amazing ability to execute but this might have resulted in them executing on many wrong things. Steve Jobs did a complete overhaul of Apple's operations, killing thousands of great ideas in the process to overcome this problem.

Moreover, competition challenges also becomes an obstacle when Steve Jobs started his venture. Apple’s barriers to competitors and innovation magic have been formidable, and any company from Nokia to Research in Motion to Hewlett-Packard that has tried to challenge Apple has been trashed. In recent months, however, Apple has faced a serious challenge to two of its blockbuster products, the iPad and the iPhone. On the tablet market, Apple contends with an unlikely challenger which is Amazon.com. On the iPhone side, Apple faces a new challenge from Google’s Android phones, especially if Google manages to integrate Motorola Mobility successfully to its organization. In fact, according to a Nielsen Survey, Android phones command a 43 percent market share, compared to 28 percent for iPhones.

Lastly, the economic challenge was also becoming one of the obstacles. Though Apple enjoys a strong brand among consumers that makes the demand for its products inelastic, its sales are sensitive to an impeding downturn, especially in Europe.

Steve Jobs as he grew the venture

What key mistakes did Steve Jobs make along the way and some of the key lessons he learned

No one is perfect, even Steve Jobs. There are some mistakes he had did when he grew his venture. The first failure he made is revealed on the Apple III computer. This is the first Apple computer not designed by its co-founder Steve Wozniak and also the first time Apple has entered the commercial market. Apple III has many problems. It has serious stability issues and the motherboard gets hot quickly. This is because Steve thinks the fan is too noisy and gone. It led to design overhaul and recall of existing machines. In order to solve this problem, He won't say it out loud, but he hopes Apple will make all the mistakes before the world sees them. The way he handles internal failures in the company is very different. By making multiple product iterations as needed and gradually improving the product. Then, when the final version came out, it seemed to be a few miles ahead of the competition. Even if there are a few failures, they can be solved by the time the product reaches the customer.

The second failure is on Pixar Image Computer. Steve Jobs admired how technologically advanced the computer division of Lucasfilm was. After George Lucas divorced, he sold the department to Jobs. Its first product was a Pixar image computer. For the high-end visualization market, it has never really taken off. Although it is orders of magnitude better than competing products, it is very expensive and sells less than 300 computers. Jobs knew that making Pixar become a successful business was not easy. However, he was willing to remain patient and flexible. He realized the dream of Ed Catmull who wanted to make the first cartoon. The technology is not ready; they have to figure out how to survive at the same time. They tried to sell Pixar image computers, but the sales were not satisfactory. John Lasseter, Pixar’s third co-founder, produced several award-winning animations to showcase the computer’s capabilities. The industry has noticed, but sales are still very low. They sold the hardware department and turned their attention to producing computer animation advertisements. In the end, Pixar turned his successful relationship with Disney into a $ 26 million deal and produced three computer-animated feature films.

The third failure he made was on NeXT Computer. After his involuntary departure from Apple, Steve Jobs was keen to show the world that he can build another computer company. This is why he founded NeXT, Inc. in 1985. Facts have proved that this is much more difficult than he expected. Like the Pixar graphics computer, the Next workstation is also aimed at the commercial market. The release of the NeXT computer experienced several delays because of its high price, and only about 50,000 units were sold. NeXT sold its hardware division in 1993.

This is arguably the most important lesson left by Steve Jobs. Yes, he is a patient and flexible entrepreneur. What makes him so different is that he has the courage to stand at a crossroads. He understands how powerful it is when he connects different worlds. Art and technology world. He knows that it is not just hardware that constitutes a personal computer. This is also the software and the way to combine the two. He is a true believer in a great end-to-end experience. In retrospect, what he wanted to do seemed ambitious, but looking back, it was the right strategy. This is not only good for customers but also a good business strategy. NeXT hardware is malfunctioning, but Steve wants to make great high-end computers. This led him to develop the software and eventually brought him back to Apple. In 1997, he sold NeXT to Apple for $ 429 million.

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Essay on Steve Jobs at the Time He Started and Grew His Venture. (2022, December 27). Edubirdie. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-on-steve-jobs-at-the-time-he-started-and-grew-his-venture/
“Essay on Steve Jobs at the Time He Started and Grew His Venture.” Edubirdie, 27 Dec. 2022, edubirdie.com/examples/essay-on-steve-jobs-at-the-time-he-started-and-grew-his-venture/
Essay on Steve Jobs at the Time He Started and Grew His Venture. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-on-steve-jobs-at-the-time-he-started-and-grew-his-venture/> [Accessed 28 Mar. 2024].
Essay on Steve Jobs at the Time He Started and Grew His Venture [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2022 Dec 27 [cited 2024 Mar 28]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-on-steve-jobs-at-the-time-he-started-and-grew-his-venture/
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