Reddit reviews iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It

iWoz is a really great read. Worth snagging if you haven't read it yet.

I love Apple and am forever indebted to Woz, but...

Having read his auto-biography iWoz I can tell you this man is a perpetual child with all the naiveté of a child and the wonderful perspective on life that comes with that.

Whether taxing corporations like individuals or individuals like corporations is a good idea or a horrible idea isn't the point. The point is, I wouldn't take economic or political advice from Wozniak.

These incidents are mentioned in Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs and also Steve Wozniak's autobiography, iWoz. Both of these books are well worth reading.

Why not get the story first-hand from his (imo, excellent) autobiography?

This comment reminded me of another book along these lines. I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 He talks all about what it was like to join Google early.

Now that I thought of that I'm going through my reading history and think that Steve Jobs might also be interesting to you. There is also Wozniak's book iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It but since I have not read it I can't really comment on it.

Both incidents are mentioned in Woz's book

West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00295MJHG/?coliid=I1Q8J5K347MYXY&colid=1J9YDKJ5WZ8PB&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Sophistication & Simplicity: The Life and Times of the Apple II Computer https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986832278/?coliid=I1I3Q5B2K8YST7&colid=1J9YDKJ5WZ8PB&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393330435/?coliid=I3IE3KZUF3E6WN&colid=1J9YDKJ5WZ8PB&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

They didn't get into trouble, it's actually mentioned Woz's autobiography (iWoz). It may have been referenced in Steve Jobs' biography too, but I'm not too sure.

Steve Wozniak comes to mind.

His autobiography http://www.amazon.com/iWoz-Computer-Invented-Personal-Co-Founded/dp/0393330435

Edit: Another is Robert Noyce (biography http://www.amazon.com/Man-Behind-Microchip-Invention-Silicon/dp/019531199X)
He and Jack Kilby are the ones we have to thank for integrated circuits and the microchip. They are the reason our PC's dont take up entire office buildings. Also, Robert Noyce founded Intel together with Gordon E. Moore. Also, lastly Gordon E. Moore biography http://www.amazon.com/Moores-Law-Silicon-Valleys-Revolutionary/dp/0465055648

Read more about him

> To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

https://sivers.org/multiply
You idea isn't worth anything until you have something in your hand to show off.

If you think you can take on an existing industry then you might want to think about a startup. If you want to be a startup founder, read and watch everything you can find about founders of your favorite company. Then try to find stories of founders that failed. Lots of people write post mortem blogs. This is important, because once again, ideas aren't worth much, and usually aren't that good. However a founder who knows how to run a startup is worth millions. Here are some good starting points of succesful founders.


yCombinator funded and advised reddit & a lot of other succesful companies:

http://playbook.samaltman.com/

https://news.ycombinator.com/

http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html

http://blog.samaltman.com/


Some other favorites:

https://sivers.org/

http://foundation.bz/

https://www.amazon.com/iWoz-Computer-Invented-Personal-Co-Founded/dp/0393330435 - Woz is an excellent example of an engineer who changed the world but didn't want to be a CEO, he just wanted to be an engineer. He's a success story, but it wasn't perfect, you can learn from him if you aren't interested in being the man in charge, but rather the man who makes things.

As far as making the product, it's unclear what you want to make, but you have to start with a prototype. For hardware/mechanical design Fusion 360 is free, and OnShape has a free account level. Electronics design (I have less experience with) but theres a free version of Eagle (which I've heard sucks) or you can search for alternatives to eagle. You can also buy a lot of useful components for prototyping from Sparkfun and adafruit. For manufacturing there are a few good companies that are good for low volume production, such as protolabs. https://www.protolabs.com/services/suite-of-services/. There are similar companies that will produce electronics. Although any software you will have to write yourself, or get a team of friends on board to help you out (congrats now you have a company). For anything in the prototype stage you're only sending schematics for the parts. They don't know what it does, and they don't care. Their business is making parts. Don't worry about having your idea stolen. The prototype will almost always be more expensive than you think. Of course everything gets cheaper when you scale to 1000s or millions of products, but this is when you can start proving that your product really is cheap. (Or maybe its not, and you have to go back to the drawing board or realize there is no future for your current project). Now that we're talking about cost, you should research all the products that you use in everyday life and find out how much they actually cost to manufacture. Tech gadgets are a great starting place just because theres always someone that wants to know much their $600+ phone costs to make. https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-much-the-iphone-7-costs-to-make/. It's possible the existing products on the market are cheaper than you think to manufacture, but profit margins + employee salaries + utilities add up. Founders might start with a salary of $40,000/yr but a good engineer fresh out of college is 80,000 a year. If you live in NY or SF then in $100,000/yr and thats only the first year, they're gonna want a raise. And they're gonna need benefits, like health care, a free T passes, and free office snacks. Employees also need high end computers, and those fancy standing desks from steelcase that go up and down at the push of a button (I just got one ordered, can't wait for it to arrive)

Finally, every year there's one or two news stories about a genius high school student inventing something (most recent one is that ocean cleaning robot) or discovering something. But really there aren't companies run by teenagers. And most of the time nothing comes of those genius teenagers. I'm not saying this to discourage you. It's just another thing you have to research when you're reading about product design and becoming a founder. Maybe there are lots of teen CEO's and I don't know about them (I'm just a guy on the internet). Or maybe you find out why you're different than other teenagers, and you're product and company will succeed. You should consider that the value of your product is not monetary, if you go through with prototyping it, then maybe it's your ticket into a better university, and/or a good project to show when applying for a scholarship. And/or a good project to show capability when applying to an internship and/or research lab. I have college interns work for me, they all think they know how to make stuff, and they don't. And when they apply to work with me, it's clear they don't know as much as they think they do. Don't be like them, if you go through the entire process of making your product a reality, then someone will believe you when you tell them you know how to make stuff.

-hopefully this is somewhat helpful. Sort of got into rambling near the end... so hopefully it's not read as a put down. Feel free to respond in thread or directly if you want to chat more.