BRYCE DOT VC: A Thought on The Next Steve Jobs
I can’t agree more.
The first thing Steve Jobs did to get Apple back on track was increase discipline in the company as without it, there would be no chance to do creative work.
Tim Cook, a supply-chain specialist, was brought in to instill discipline in the company. Both Steve and Tim made the Yin-Yang team of creativity and discipline.
They cut perks, stopped funding the corporate sabbatical program, improved operating efficiency, lowered overall cost structure, and got people focused on the intense “work all day and all of the night” ethos.
Apple’s cash-to-current liabilities ratio doubled, and then tripled. Long term debt shrunk by two-thirds and the ratio of total liabilities to shareholder equity dropped by more than half from 1998 to 1999.
THIS WAS ALL DONE BEFORE THE IPOD, ITUNES, OR THE IPHONE. That is how you create an amazing business.
-Great By Choice Jim Collins
MG has the canonical post on Apple’s first earnings report of the post Steve Jobs era. Read it and follow the links he includes. Cliff Notes version- the results were staggering.
As it turns out, these earnings were reported on the same day the State of the Union address was delivered. Steve’s…
