Besides being referred to as one of the co-founders of Apple, much is not talked about Steve Wozniak. In the present times, all that most know about him, if at all, is that he stays as of now in Los Gatos.
There are entrepreneurs who walk with a vision that stretches out into generations. Then there is the most unbelievable cult of visionary innovators who walk with an idea to create temporary monopolies and break march the second they feel they are done with their current experiment and that the lot of leaders whom they trained can handle the war well. Woz incredibly belongs to the latter group, ready to live an entrepreneurial dream purely for the sake of his passion than for anything else; and ready to hit the road in search of the newest entrepreneurial high every moment. We cannot imagine a more altruistic form of entrepreneurship – where a professional, without any qualms, gives up all the cards that he holds to help the other guy, whoever, win. A true teacher!
Over the time that we researched him, Woz’s answers to our queries made us realise that behind the geek who was technically ‘the’ creator of Apple’s computers during the 1970s and 1980s, lies a legendary entrepreneur who doesn’t like hogging the limelight. He never did. And from Woz, what we believe is the primary CEO-nurturing lesson that true entrepreneurs of the modern age should internalise is – encourage and spearhead the ideation processes and initial stages of product-making, and once you’ve found your optimally utopian CEO (or one who comes closest to that), give complete independence to your CEO to finally shape, market and sell the produce. Even if you’re gone tomorrow, your CEO and his successors should be trained well to adopt the company as his and take it forward responsibly – with shareholders to serve. Shy but determined, Woz was a creator of many-a-marvel, and the independence that he gave Jobs in executing the selling and marketing strategies is what we believe gave the primary cementing foundation to Jobs’ character and in Jobs becoming the greatest marketer and CEO in the world. And this effect had started much before Apple was even born.
In Jobs’ biography (‘Steve Jobs’ by Walter Isacsson), recalling his first interaction with Woz, while sitting on the sidewalk in front of Bill Fernandez’s home (Woz’s Homestead High School friend), Jobs had concluded: “Woz was the first person I’d met who knew more electronics than I did. Woz was very very bright.” He was. He is still. Very.
Woz’s father (Francis) was a rocket scientist at Lockheed Martin. Since he was a child, Woz would spend hours gazing at circuit diagrams and enjoy hearing about the power of transistors and diodes from his father. He was born a hardware guy, and though his childhood pranks were not marketable, they were definitely signs of a genius entrepreneur-inventor in the making.
If a film could be made, the two Steves would have unique titles. While Woz would be the Entrepreneur-Creator-Ideator, Jobs would be the CEO-Innovator- Marketer. For many years, the duo worked together, but at every stage until Woz left Apple in February 1987, he played the role of the visionary creator, while Jobs acted his part of being the visionary marketer. That Jobs was under no undue pressure from Woz and acted on his independent will as the master marketer and head of the Macintosh division for Apple is apparent from the manner in which product creation and selling were masterminded independently by Woz and Jobs respectively during the first 12 years of Apple (when the two worked together).
The first revenue-generating product that the duo created was the Blue Box (September 1971), which replicated tones that routed frequencies on the AT&T network thereby enabling callers to make toll-free calls across the world. Woz masterminded the product. From calling the Ritz in London to speaking to a bishop at the Vatican at half- past-five in the morning, both the entrepreneur and the master marketer got their product tested. Then it was time to mint some money. Jobs, true to the marketing stamp, decided the pricing of the Blue Box. Woz allowed Jobs to experiment his pricing skills and bloom as a marketer during those early years. They sold about 100 pieces and made net profits to the tune of $11,000 – big moneys for a start. Lesson #1: As an entrepreneur, if you find your CEO competent, trust him. Of course, there will always be stock taking sessions – but these should neither be oppressive or daily.
In early 1975, after Jobs returned to US from his soul-searching trip to India, Woz and he got back. Soon after, Woz created Apple I – the world’s first personal computer. On June 29, 1975, the first prototype of the Apple I PC was done. What next? It was Jobs’ turn to take responsibility of raw materials procurement and sales thereafter. Steve Jobs sold the Apple I at $666 a piece – a margin of over $300 per piece. Then, the Apple II went on sale on June 5, 1977. Like the previous version, this one had Woz’s touch of brilliance. He had designed it keeping in mind the evolving needs of Apple PC users. The Apple II had better colour and sound, storage capabilities, a faster microprocessor and became a best-seller. Its sales rose from 2,500 units in 1997 to 210,000 by 1981, the year which practically was Woz’s last active year as an entrepreneur at the company.
From marketing expenditure to pricing, Woz allowed Jobs to go ahead with his decisions to market the product. Woz knew that having a great product wasn’t even half the job done. One had to convince people to buy it. It worked. Result: Apple II sold almost 6 million units for the next 16 years. Lesson #2: As an entrepreneur, never fall into the trap of believing that the best product can win purely on quality. That almost never happens. Believe in the power of advertising and marketing, fanatically. [All this doesn’t mean that one can’t disagree at the top. Even when it came to execution and people management, Jobs was very stubborn.]
After surviving a private plane crash in 1981, it was only in 1983 that Woz returned to Apple. This time however, he sensed the change in Jobs’ orientation towards work. Woz tells us, “Steve was one of the greatest. He didn’t do the engineering but he understood it better than pure business types. I was his ‘key’ in the early days. In later times, it was clear that he had understood the importance of all the departments of a large company. From then on, Steve became a great CEO but it wasn’t the same. That’s why it’s confusing as to whether the word ‘entrepreneur’ applies to this latter phase [of Jobs].”
Woz stayed with Apple till 1987. In between, he earned his undergraduate degree in 1986 from UC Berkeley. Post that, he tried his hands at encouraging technological start-ups, and still continues to do so. He has had his share of failures at entrepreneurship but has also seen successes like WOZ, Acquicor Technology and Fusion-io. Woz’s close association of a decade with Jobs was critical in making Steve Jobs the great visionary CEO and Marketer. Woz was the cushion with brains and a creative acumen, Jobs was the hedge-hammer with a love for profits, and making ordinary objects beautiful and sellable.
Chances are, had Woz continued playing the seasoning role on Jobs, Jobs wouldn’t have had the bitter Sculley days in his biography. But that clearly wasn’t to be, because Woz was an entrepreneur who loved to break march as soon as his initial idea had won trust. He wasn’t the one in it for the love of the money – and when he had had his share of the happiness quotient, he moved on! Whatever said and done, Woz’s association with Jobs was meant to be just that long. Respect is what we must give him, for choosing passion over money, choosing life over fame. This is why he walked away from Apple. Lesson #3: Always choose passion over money; success will be more satisfying that way.
He’s the cult entrepreneur all CEOs should listen to, to get their bearings sparklingly right. There are some things that money just can’t ever buy – Woz is at the top of that list.
