2 ms·

> "I've always valued passionate employees over anything else, and, it turns out that there's a huge percentage of the population that are actually dead - they

by ux-app 11y ago

> "I've always valued passionate employees over anything else, and, it turns out that there's a huge percentage of the population that are actually dead - they don't know it, but, in terms of their processes, they're just waiting to be buried" I'm sure he did value passionate employees, especially in light of the positive way in which describes Jobs sleeping under his desk (and the poor bastards described in the article who were working on a Saturday). I wonder how many of those under the desk employees got a cut of his $30 million Atari payday. Not one I bet. Wisdom is understanding that others don't have the same drives and ambitions that you do and not judging them for it. Sounds like this guy still hasn't learned this at 70+

gpcz 11y ago
The documentary "Once Upon Atari" explains the story of the consumer division (Atari 2600). Some of their best game developers left to form Activision after they tried to renegotiate their compensation with the new CEO and failed (this was post-Bushnell when Atari started making real serious money). After third-party games became legitimized, dozens of game companies sprouted up and tried to poach people from Atari. This put enough pressure on the Atari management to give release bonuses and $0.10/cartridge royalties that made a bunch of the developers millionaires.
gexla 11y ago
This was just one step in an incredible journey for Steve Jobs. He probably put in the long hours because he saw value in those hours. He probably learned a lot from the experience.
- scholia 11y ago
  Yep. Like getting Woz (who had a day job) to come in out of hours and do a lot of the work, then take the credit for it, and then not give Woz a fair share of the bonus... http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/steve-wozniak-cried-jobs-kept-atari-bonus-267711 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/steve-wozniak-cried-jobs-kept-atari...
icanhackit 11y ago
I wonder how many of those under the desk employees got a cut of his $30 million Atari payday. Not one I bet. You could also infer that a lot of people have to suffer, e.g. hard work for little reward, for a small number of people to win big. Making big bucks requires, more often than not, less than ideal treatment of others unless you have a magical algorithm in your pocket that solves a big problem. You sell a physical product? This goes doubly so. It's just abstracted so it's harder to see. On the personal life side of things, which is kind of below the belt but I'm not making a moral judgement, do you think CEO X can be super-dad/mum when they're working until midnight? Sure, they show up when a kid has a birthday but they have to outsource a lot of parenting because they've made the decision that a career is more important than playing a bigger part in their child's life. Not everyone can make that kind of decision, and those who do tend to be the kind of person who yearns to "make big things". Quote from TFA: there's a huge percentage of the population that are actually dead - they don't know it, but, in terms of their processes, they're just waiting to be buried" The people who think this don't realize or appreciate that they make their fortunes from the "dead". Most of the time, not always but most of the time, it's the guy with the boring 8-5 job who comes home to play his video game console, eat his microwave healthy-choice dinner, bathe using the new showergel that will surely get him pussy like the ad said he would, and go to sleep using his special pillow with proper neck support that he ordered from an infomercial. You feed off these people, and then say fuck it, they might as well be dead because they can't work on "big things". Let's see how Uber would do if they could only pick up founders in the Valley or SF. Not well.
machinshin_ 11y ago
He's basically saying, "i want smart suckers. people who'll work their asses off to make me as money as possible, and will get fucked at the end of the line"

by ux-app 11y ago

gpcz 11y ago

The documentary "Once Upon Atari" explains the story of the consumer division (Atari 2600). Some of their best game developers left to form Activision after they tried to renegotiate their compensation with the new CEO and failed (this was post-Bushnell when Atari started making real serious money). After third-party games became legitimized, dozens of game companies sprouted up and tried to poach people from Atari. This put enough pressure on the Atari management to give release bonuses and $0.10/cartridge royalties that made a bunch of the developers millionaires.

gexla 11y ago

This was just one step in an incredible journey for Steve Jobs. He probably put in the long hours because he saw value in those hours. He probably learned a lot from the experience.

scholia 11y ago
Yep. Like getting Woz (who had a day job) to come in out of hours and do a lot of the work, then take the credit for it, and then not give Woz a fair share of the bonus... http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/steve-wozniak-cried-jobs-kept-atari-bonus-267711 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/steve-wozniak-cried-jobs-kept-atari...

icanhackit 11y ago

I wonder how many of those under the desk employees got a cut of his $30 million Atari payday. Not one I bet. You could also infer that a lot of people have to suffer, e.g. hard work for little reward, for a small number of people to win big. Making big bucks requires, more often than not, less than ideal treatment of others unless you have a magical algorithm in your pocket that solves a big problem. You sell a physical product? This goes doubly so. It's just abstracted so it's harder to see. On the personal life side of things, which is kind of below the belt but I'm not making a moral judgement, do you think CEO X can be super-dad/mum when they're working until midnight? Sure, they show up when a kid has a birthday but they have to outsource a lot of parenting because they've made the decision that a career is more important than playing a bigger part in their child's life. Not everyone can make that kind of decision, and those who do tend to be the kind of person who yearns to "make big things". Quote from TFA: there's a huge percentage of the population that are actually dead - they don't know it, but, in terms of their processes, they're just waiting to be buried" The people who think this don't realize or appreciate that they make their fortunes from the "dead". Most of the time, not always but most of the time, it's the guy with the boring 8-5 job who comes home to play his video game console, eat his microwave healthy-choice dinner, bathe using the new showergel that will surely get him pussy like the ad said he would, and go to sleep using his special pillow with proper neck support that he ordered from an infomercial. You feed off these people, and then say fuck it, they might as well be dead because they can't work on "big things". Let's see how Uber would do if they could only pick up founders in the Valley or SF. Not well.

machinshin_ 11y ago

He's basically saying, "i want smart suckers. people who'll work their asses off to make me as money as possible, and will get fucked at the end of the line"