[Book Notes] Finding the Next Steve Jobs

Nolan Bushnell, creator of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, created multiple creative companies, and the book explains how he was able to do so. Many of the ideas, especially around hiring creative people, feel natural to anyone who grew up around tech culture. But Bushnell offers several useful insights.

Jobs and Bushnell

Steve Jobs didn't come over to Bushnell's house to get ideas from him. He wanted to bounce around some of his own ideas and pick up courage when Bushnell supported them. Bushnell often didn't completely understand the ideas, but he could feel that Jobs had a clear vision and that if he could force a positive outcome, he should stay the course even if nobody else around him understood his goals.

Even if Bushnell didn't really "get" Steve's ideas, he supported him. Others may not always see, but support should still be there.

Additional Lessons

• If the other guy's business looks easy, it means you don't know enough about it.
• Don't copy. Building is always harder than one thinks.
• Examples of failure are hard to find; success stories are easy.
• Don't hide shortcomings from yourself.
• Be willing to share some things, because hard work is hard to see from the outside.
• When you present a creative or innovative idea, the odds are good people will reject it as too radical, too scary, and too unbelievable in the abstract. Most people don't understand innovation. This struggle to invest in it is normal.
• If you propose innovative solutions or ideas, you will be rejected, and that's okay.
• Designate a demo day because art is never finished.
• Gut thinking matters. Embrace it in decision-making.
• Mix up environments.
• Sleep and behavior matter because they shape major decisions.
• Make naysayers write down objections.

— Jay