The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce (1983)

Tom Wolfe wrote “The Tinkering’s of Robert Noyce” about the founding and early culture at Fairchild and Intel for Esquire in December of 1983 and updated it for Forbes ASAP fourteen years later as “Robert Noyce and his Congregation.” (Aug-25-1997) see http://www.forbes.com/asap/1997/0825/102.html the updated version makes a much stronger connection between the flat hierarchy of the Dissenting Protestant churches and the egalitarian nature of many Silicon Valley startups.

I went to Grinnell College in the 90's while Grant Gale was still walking the halls of the physics building. He ran the school's "physics museum" - wish I could go back in time and take another look at his displays.

Bob Noyce's impact on the college was immense. The college's investment in Intel was put under the guidance of Warren Buffet (who was trustee from the late 60's until 2011) where it ballooned into the billions. Noyce also got Steve Jobs to join Grinnell's board in the early 80's.

This is an excellent read, and if you haven't already seen it, the PBS documentary Silicon Valley is also really good: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/silicon/

An epic read, but wonderfully well worth it (whether you're familiar with Bob Noyce, Fairchild, and Intel, or not).

Interesting that we're still arguing over some of those business, management, and culture principles today.

Fantastic read, thank you