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> (It's simple: what makes Apple or Google special, or more specifically, what made them special when they were starting out?). A couple guys had an idea for a
by jsprinkles 14y ago
> (It's simple: what makes Apple or Google special, or more specifically, what made them special when they were starting out?).
A couple guys had an idea for a cheap computer and a great search engine, respectively. And they executed it well. You're kidding yourself if you think the Steves sat around and said, "what is it we should do with our lives? We need an idea." They knew what they wanted to do, and did it, and continued to believe in it (in Steve Jobs's case, for his entire life).
It was their passion for the ideas that determined how successful their respective companies were, perhaps combined with traits about themselves. Do you think Apple will ever be as successful without Jobs's dedication? Maybe successful, but not innovative, and doomed to eventually run out of steam. Google is already failing because they are losing focus on the idea that made them great.
I don't think a company can be truly successful unless the people founding it truly believe that the idea will change the world (and how can you truly believe in an idea that you haven't discovered yet, and that you have to go to an incubator to work on?). Of course, this is meaningless in today's perceived-value bubble, which might be why Y Combinator is trying it.
In the end, and I hope I'm wrong, I suspect this will draw out people who are just looking for a cash-out vehicle. "I heard there was money to be made in Silicon Valley, but I don't know what company to start. Help me find an idea!"
- nostromo 14y agoJeff Bezos is a counter example to your representation of Steve Jobs. Bezos knew that the internet was going to be big and knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur -- and that was about it! From the way he tells it, there was no "Aha! I must sell books on the internet because books are my passion!" moment. Instead, he went methodologically looking for something to sell online, and books had widespread appeal, were easy to ship, and lent themselves to being searched on a website.
- jsprinkles 14y agoYour telling is overly simplistic. > One day that spring, Jeffrey Bezos observed that Internet usage was increasing by 2,300 percent a year. He saw an opportunity for a new sphere of business, and immediately began considering the possibilities. > In typically methodical fashion, Bezos reviewed the top 20 mail order businesses, and asked himself which could be conducted more efficiently over the Internet than by traditional means.[1] Idea: Build a better mail-order business using the Internet. He saw the potential for the efficiency of the Internet and automation to make mail-order businesses obsolete. He didn't look at the Internet and say, "gee, I want to be an entrepreneur, what company can I start here?" [1]: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bez0bio-1 http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bez0bio-1
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- lolcraft 14y ago> He didn't look at the Internet and say, "gee, I want to be an entrepreneur, what company can I start here?" By your own quoting, he did exactly that. Maybe rephrased slightly, so as to frame "I wanna be an entrepreneur" as "I saw an opportunity", et c. The point is, Bezos wasn't suddenly awestruck with the epiphany that the Internet was going to change selling books, which incidentally was one of his great passions.
- bootload 14y ago"... books had widespread appeal, were easy to ship, and lent themselves to being searched on a website ..." And one product that was not well represented on the Internet. This made books & publishing ripe for disruption.
- gregpilling 14y agoat the time, very little was represented on the internet.
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