{"id":43445,"date":"2023-10-20T15:28:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/10-start-up-lessons-to-take-from-steve-jobs-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:28:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:28:38","slug":"10-start-up-lessons-to-take-from-steve-jobs-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/10-start-up-lessons-to-take-from-steve-jobs-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"10 start-up lessons to take from Steve Jobs – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Steve<\/div>\n

\"SteveThe announcement of Steve Jobs\u2019 decision to quit as CEO of Apple may, on reflection, not be entirely unexpected, but it draws to a close one of the finest chapters in entrepreneurial history.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ailing Jobs, who took a medical leave of absence in 2009, said that the \u201cday has come\u201d where he can no longer carry out his duties as CEO.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He leaves behind a company that recorded a thumping $7.31 billion profit in the last quarter. But his influence on business, technology and popular culture has been far beyond mere numbers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here we run through the 10 lessons that budding entrepreneurs can take from Jobs\u2019 stunning success.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Keep a strict focus<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that Jobs was always going to work in the tech space, from when he dropped out of college, started attending classes he wasn\u2019t enrolled in and got a job at Atari.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But although he was working in a nascent industry when he started Apple in a garage in 1973, he always kept a tight focus on the products that would build the business, from the Apple I computer in 1973 to the iPad last year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He once said: \u201cApple is a $30 billion company, yet we\u2019ve got less than 30 major products. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s ever been done before\u2026 it means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Embody your brand<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Apple has become a company that almost transcends business and tech \u2013 it is a popular culture icon and adored by its customers on a level that most other brands can only dream of.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many of these things can also be said of Jobs himself. He embodies the innovative, cutting edge, design-savvy image of the business. Entrepreneurs can\u2019t afford for there to be any jarring dis-connect between their own image and that of their company.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above all, you need passion. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to find what you love,\u201d Jobs has said. \u201cAnd that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Surround yourself with the best people<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jobs may be viewed as a technological genius, but if it wasn\u2019t for some extremely talented allies, it\u2019s unlikely that we would\u2019ve ever heard of him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He had few friends before meeting computer whizz-kid Steve Wozniak in the early 1970s, who proceeded to build products that no-one could match in terms of innovation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although his business skills have arguably never quite matched his design nous, Jobs has been savvy enough to bring in people who offer what he can\u2019t. Hence, Tim Cook, very much a \u201cnumbers man\u201d as COO, was in prime position to take over as CEO.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jobs only took delegation so far, however, when it came to entrepreneurial instinct. \u201cDon\u2019t let the noise of others\u2019 opinions drown out your own inner voice,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. Improve on what is currently offered<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Apple is known as a highly innovative company that has completely transformed the way we think about entertainment and communication.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But in reality, the business has built its success on improving what went before. It made the MP3 player better with the iPod. The mobile phone was improved with the iPhone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The story goes that the iPhone came about after Apple execs complained to each other about what irritated them about their mobiles. Jobs focused on what wasn\u2019t working in current trends and overhauled it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. Keep the customer in mind<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Famously, Apple under Jobs never hired consultants or conducted market research. He relied on his innate sense of what consumers wanted and, crucially, what they will want in the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While this approach won\u2019t work for every business, there are several lessons you can take from Jobs when it comes to customers. One is to put yourself in their shoes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe figure out what we want. You can\u2019t go out and ask people \u2018what\u2019s the next big thing?\u201d he has said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The announcement of Steve Jobs\u2019 decision to quit as CEO of Apple may, on reflection, not be entirely unexpected, but<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}