“The Journey is the Reward.” – Steve Jobs, CEO Apple

Remembering… my first Apple computer (1983).  It was heavy, but I still carried it around.

Remembering… the 50 page college paper I wrote about the life of Steve Jobs… granted his greatest achievements were far in the future.

Remembering… when a dear friend from college, at Syracuse, dropped out at 19.  He had discovered a bug in the chip running Apple’s new Mac.  When he called to bring it to Apple’s attention, they said: “no, it’s not our bug.”  After a week of persistent  phoning, he finally got a call back.  “You’re right.  And, by the way, do you want to move to Silicon Valley and work for Apple?”  He did.   He never looked back – and was a lead engineer at Apple on many projects including the iPOD.

Remembering the 2-3 times I saw Steve Jobs speak: the first being MacWorld in Boston in the 80’s.  A friend was sneaking around a prototype of what (I would come to find out) would be the Newton.  The latter two times I saw Jobs speak were in San Francisco when MacWorld moved to Moscone in downtown San Francisco after 2004.  I’d never tire of his: “But wait: …there’s more..!” I’d passed by Jobs’ home many times while working in Palo Alto for Swisscom’s Outpost in Silicon Valley. 

Remembering my Shiva days in Cambridge, Boston: our company developed FastPath router for the Mac, and NetModem for the Mac.  Working for an Apple-centric company set the stage for believing in great design, and working in a design-oriented tech culture.  It was easy to have fun and enjoy work.  I even got to help design and name a product.

Remembering…my first time on the Apple campus: Cupertino, 1 Infinite Loop, and reading some colleagues / friends’ business cards.  It was the first time I had seen titles like: “Evangelist” in a corporation.  My friend Paul was “Finder’s Keeper” at Apple, since he developed the Finder – along with his colleagues.  Another friend was “Question Authority”.  And he was one.  Also what stood out were the number of Apple employees who were serious musicians and artists, inventors and writers in addition to their day (Day/night – since most would work well into the midnight hours – at work) job.

The stories reverberated throughout my career in technology – working in Silicon Valley – you know that if you walk down the halls of a Xerox PARC, HP, or Apple -you think of those who’ve walked the halls before, and it’s positively motivating.  You go to a Hobee’s in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale or Cupertino, and it’s impossible to imagine the creative conversations going on around you, until you’re there.

Introspection…  About…  (even “About” makes me think of the Apple Mac interface and menus – and clicking on About would usually tell you something cute about the hardware or the software it’s running and.or the development team).  Now “About” is pretty standard on any machine running any software in the world. 

But to sum up my feelings tonight about Steve Jobs and his legacy – I remember Apple’s first logo which is a quote by Sir Isaac Newton: 

“A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought – – – alone.”

Setting the Course for Your Next Strategic Breakthrough

In tackling new strategic opportunities, two common business tactics are: “develop new products” designed to appeal to your market base or “develop new markets” for an existing product.  According to Harvard Business Review’s recent piece: “Locating Your Next Strategic Opportunity” and a new company, Quid; the shortest distance to your next opportunity may not follow a classic or clear-cut path.  

Having followed Quid co-founder Sean Gourley’s work – from YouNoodle [as their CTO], his popular TED talk, and several in-person conversations – it makes sense that a company he’s co-founded would stake their claim on just that premise.  A new way of analyzing and applying compelling business data – takes an obtuse notion and pinpoints an attainable strategic goal.

Here’s how it works:

Leveraging information about the thousands of privately held companies, Quid uses semantic clustering  to  accurately predict where what your company/product does today may offer possibilities to  address new and different business challenges.  A scatter plot shows where empty zones exist within industries – market opportunities with little competitive pressure and yet offer possible  rewards.

“Most companies cluster around established sectors, but a few will sit in the white spaces between the clusters and can represent the seeds of new technology sectors.” says Kurzweilai.net

Examples of where Quid has applied the technique include seemingly unconnected sectors such as biopharma and gaming, yet a smattering of companies exist to address opportunities in that market.

I found this HBR piece fascinating because private company data that Quid is privy to – both structured and unstructured – analyzed in new ways could lead to your company’s next niche thing!  Continuing with the innovation and strategic opportunity theme, be sure to catch innovation in action for customers, partners, and influencers from the SapphireNOW Conference, here on the virtual platform.

Switzerland’s Vice President on Sustainability: “It’s in Our Constitution”

GreenTech in a Global Marketplace

What do the TWIKE, SMART Car, and Solar Airplane, all have in common? They were all designed/developed in Switzerland. This should come as no surprise, considering the demanding standards the country has always held itself to – and as Switzerland’s Vice President, Doris Leuthard said on Friday in San Francisco for GreenTech – “It’s in our constitution.” She referred to the fact that you can swim in all the lakes and rivers in Switzerland; and you can even drink water from them. And it is true, after living there for six years, there is no doubt in my mind that Switzerland is one of the most meticulously maintained / monitored, not to mention sparklingly clean countries on the planet. But wait – there’s more.

Swissnex – a braintrust collective of Swiss in America which connects the best of many worlds by bridging the knowledge, energy and competencies in science, higher education, art and innovation between Switzerland, the U.S.A and Canada – held one of its most exciting events of the year on July 10 in San Francisco, if not only for the fact that their Vice President is charming and approachable and that the event felt quite intimate.

“GreenTech in a Global Marketplace” featured a panel discussion moderated by Celeste LeCompte, GigaOm, and included two Swiss CEOs: Dr. Xavier Arreguit, Managing Director of Innobridge, Dr. Uwe Krueger, CEO of OC Oerlikon, and one American: Peter Van Deventer, President, CEO and co-founder of SynapSense.

There were numerous innovations developed by the panelists’ companies in clean or green tech and energy management; such as double clutch transmission for cars, artificial retina nano technologies, data center sensors.

But some of the strongest takeaways were how these business leaders thrive and have grown new businesses and profited in spite of the economic downturn.

New Industries.

Arreguit shared that during this economic downturn – and especially now – you can find new opportunities with a new way of defining the problem, or a new business model as the way to bridge the problem to the solution. ‘If you change the process, new industries are born, and then you have the opportunity to put together the value chain which will embody this.’

Behavioral Change As Innovation.

Arreguit’s company can provide a technology platform and financing which is systematic in helping industries to innovate – and he’s had 30 startups to earn his stripes. Another innovation, and part of his innovation philosophy, is to prove how his products and technology can effectively change the behavior of consumers. With sensors, artificial retina, and other technologies, people become more aware of how they are using energy, and that mechanism can reinforce smarter behavior.

To LeCompte’s question: Is government the new VC? Panelists balked: “It would frighten me if the state were the VC.” But still, Kruger continued: “There’s a lot of money available – banks are preparing themselves for this.”

VC? No, RC.

In Switzerland: ‘We have a slightly different name for Venture Capital. Its “RC” or ‘Risk Capital’. Brilliant! This somehow seems much more palatable, considering that these investments are just that – riskier than most. “If you frame the risk a little differently, it can be sold to new generations.”