Steve Jobs on “entrepreneurs” | Hacker News Reader

Steve Jobs on “entrepreneurs”

16 pointskitsune_8 comments

'I hate it when people call themselves “entrepreneurs” when what they’re really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell or go public, so they can cash in and move on. They’re unwilling to do the work it takes to build a real company, which is the hardest work in business. That’s how you really make a contribution and add to the legacy of those who went before. You build a company that will still stand for something a generation or two from now. That’s what Walt Disney did, and Hewlett and Packard, and the people who built Intel. They created a company to last, not just to make money. That’s what I want Apple to be.'

Excerpt from Isaacson's book

View on HN

I disagree. I think selling your company doesn't make you any less of an entrepreneur (btw jobs did sell his companies NeXT to Apple in 1997 and Pixar to Disney in 2006). The Paypal founders sold to Ebay for 1.5B and many of them went on to do other great and innovative things with that capital. I think being entrepreneurial means having the passion to start new things and sometimes that requires you to sell your old company/ies to fund it. I admire the courage to sell a successful/profitable company in order to built something from scratch again. Elon Musk said: I think it's better to try doing something which requires low capital as kind of your first company. With the success of that, then take capital from that and plow it into your second company. That's what I did, basically. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/14/elon-musk-starting-a-compan...

Hmm...I have a feeling that his statement wasn't really directed at serial, game-changing entrepreneurs like Elon Musk (and himself, as you point out). But there are some people who start companies with the express intent of selling them and aren't necessary worried about them lasting for generations. Whether that makes them not true entrepreneurs, I don't know; I guess Steve Jobs would have said not. But I think they are a different breed than Musk et al.

>"You build a company that will still stand for something a generation or two from now. That’s what Walt Disney did, and Hewlett and Packard, and the people who built Intel"

One could say the same thing applies to Bill Gates.

I've been thinking in similar terms for a long time, we've seen how some sold startups are later closed so if you care about the idea behind the startup don't sell it - develop it.

If you care about the idea behind your startup so much that you won't sell it, it's not really a startup [and there is nothing wrong with that].

In the case of Andrew Mason shutting out Google's 6 billion offer, is that what defines him as an entrepreneur or is that just blind vision?

of course the irony to this quote is to look at the number of companies which were bought out by Walt Disney, HP, Intel, and Apple...

Not saying he's wrong.. just that those purchases helped make them those strong companies.

Especially when he was known for ruthlessly going after companies he thought would strengthen his own. Telling them he'd be coming after their market-share directly and pressuring them into selling.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com