The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it. That’s somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That’s when you find out who you are and what your values are.
So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.
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Steve Jobs. Sourced from Steve Jobs’ Best Quotes.
Steve Jobs. Sourced from Steve Jobs’ Best Quotes.
Anonymous Coward
on 25 Aug 11Interesting to hear from a man who has sold nearly every company he has owned (NEXT, Pixar).
AC
on 25 Aug 11Interesting to hear from a man who has sold nearly every company he has owned (NEXT, Pixar).
MattO
on 25 Aug 11There is some great stuff throughout the rest of the quotes from that page too. Design and Products sections are great.
JD
on 25 Aug 11AC, read up on Pixar’s history. You’ll understand what Steve Jobs is talking about.
Martin Pilkington
on 25 Aug 11AC, the quote isn’t saying that selling is bad, but that it shouldn’t be your aim. If you do it, it should be with the intent that it will help you make better products.
Or put another way, interesting to hear from a man who has stuck with every company he has sold.
AC
on 25 Aug 11@JD
Pixar’s history is fairly well known.
- Steve bought it from Lucus.
- They made a bunch of short-films that never generated revenue (much like a start up)
- Steve landed a deal with Disney for Toy Story (first revenue). It was an immediate success but then there was a disagreement on the # of films Pixar had to produce for Disney.
- Steve immediately wanted to sell due to the success of Toy Story but Michael Isner (CEO of Disney) despised Jobs, so the deal never got done. Isner claimed Jobs wanted way too much money and they didn’t get along personally.
- Years later, when Isner resigned – Jobs immediately sold it to Disney’s new CEO Bob Iger.
So tell me JD, what am I missing in Pixar’s history that makes this not a “dump-and-run” start up story that you imply it’s not.
JD
on 25 Aug 11I guess the part where Pixar is 25 years old.
AC
on 25 Aug 11@JD
Michael Eisner became the CEO of Disney in 1984, 1 year before Jobs purchased Pixar in 1985.
In late 2005, after being CEO of Disney for 30 years, Eisner resigned. In 2006, Disney purchases Pixar.
So, the entire life of Pixar was under Jobs inability to sell to Disney who controlled the company due to an exclusive partnership they held.
sodium11
on 25 Aug 11Too bad he had too use a racial epithet against Roma (aka “gypsies”) in this comment.
Anonymous Coward
on 25 Aug 11So, the entire life of Pixar was under Jobs inability to sell to Disney who controlled the company due to an exclusive partnership they held.
...they also made some movies, didn’t they?
Eamon
on 25 Aug 11I’m sorry, but that’s just nonsense. So if I never start my own company, I’ll never know my values? Come on.
Michael
on 25 Aug 11A theory: when you build something like Apple, you’re allowed to sell the rest of your companies and still recommend people build big companies.
Chris
on 25 Aug 11How do you get that? He’s saying that if you take the easy road out by selling, you’ll never get to experience the joy of running a company for more than just yourself.
Paul Montwill
on 25 Aug 11@AC: Steve Jobs still owns Pixar because he got some decent part of Disney.
Steve T
on 26 Aug 11@AC: You’re also missing the part where Pixar has retained control of the work and their division, to the point that Pixar took over Disney Animation as much as Disney Corp took over Pixar.
And I think that selling 20 years after starting is a little different to other sellouts people are talking about. I mean, it was at least 10 years (1985-1995) before Pixar even really had something to sell to Disney (before Toy Story they were a hardware tech firm… Disney wouldn’t have bought that). And if somehow they had, it would have been a fail compared to the $7 billion sale in 2006—ie: they built up the company to that point through their work, and even after the sale it’s still their division to run.
As others have said, Pixar’s history is pretty well known…
Devan
on 26 Aug 11Interesting quote that Jason picked. As far as I am aware, 37signals has never been through the “despair and agony” stage of things? Or have they?
They say that hardship is where true character comes out, so one day I would like to see a 37signals book / blog post about when things DIDN’T go to plan, or when backs were to the wall, so to speak…
Not that I am saying that every business should delve into hard times, but I think there will be a better balance, and more empathy from the reader / viewer when a company can say “Yeah, we hit a rough patch here, and we screwed up here, but this is how we fixed it”.
Apologies if my question takes things off topic a little, but I am reading the book “Guitar Lessons” by Bob Taylor, the founder of Taylor Guitars, and THAT is one book with the lessons of ‘doing it tough’ and making mistakes (and importantly, learning from them) before becoming a big success…
fipe
on 27 Aug 11Not sure about the rewarding experiences part of the quote but i agree with the main point he is trying to make. I’m more in favour of people trying to build a company from the ground up and making something of it as opposed to building something with the primary aim of selling it once an offer is made.
Unless of course someone makes you an offer you can’t refuse (sorry couldn’t resist).
Geoff
on 29 Aug 11+1 @Devan “They say that hardship is where true character comes out, so one day I would like to see a 37signals book / blog post about when things DIDN’T go to plan, or when backs were to the wall, so to speak…”
This discussion is closed.