November 25, 2021

What makes a great business?

Friday Thoughts: What makes a great business? In the early 2000s, Blockbuster was on top of the world, with more than 9,000 stores across the U.S. and a video tape in nearly every home’s VHS or BETA player (remember those?!). A new, obscure startup called “Netflix” even approached Blockbuster in 2000, asking if the video store king would like to buy them out for a mere $50 million. But Blockbuster’s CEO declined, calling Netflix “a very small fringe business.” The rest is history, with Blockbuster filing bankruptcy by 2010 and Netflix going on to have 213 million subscribers worldwide this […]
July 26, 2021

The only time Steve Jobs ever turned off his iPhone.

I recently read an article about Steve Jobs and his iPhone use. Of course, as the iconoclastic head visionary at Apple, it’s no surprise that Jobs had his iPhone with him all the time. According to first-hand accounts, he never shut it off. Ever… Well, except for one and only one occasion in his workday (which, for Jobs, was every day). Steve Jobs did hit the power button and turn off his iPhone whenever he met with his creative team at Apple. For those minutes, hours, and days, Jobs wanted to discuss new ideas, product design, and vanguard innovations with […]
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