NeXT

Build the Obsession You Desperately Crave Most founders get paralyzed by market research and investor sentiment. They wait for a green light from a spreadsheet. Steve Jobs didn't care about what the market wanted; he built what he found "cool as hell." Before Apple, he and Steve Wozniak engineered the blue box, an illegal device to hack AT&T. They didn't ask for permission. They wanted to bend the rules of a global infrastructure. This raw desire is the only true fuel for innovation. If you aren't building a solution to your own frustration, you're just another commodity. Master the Maze Mindset Entrepreneurship is not a straight line to a liquidity event; it is a brutal maze. Most people hit a wall and quit because they view failure as a permanent state. When Apple fired Steve Jobs, he didn't retire. He launched NeXT, a hardware company that flopped spectacularly in the marketplace. Instead of doubling down on a dying vision, he pivoted to software. That "failure" eventually became the foundation of macOS. You must be willing to fall on your face and immediately recalibrate. The maze rewards the persistent, not the perfect. Weaponize Your Weird Curiosities Stop trying to be a one-trick specialist. The world is full of engineers who can't tell a story and artists who can't read a P&L. Steve Jobs changed the world because he snuck into calligraphy classes and studied liberal arts. He brought musicians and poets into the tech world. This "humanities plus electronics" approach is why Apple won. Your random interests are your competitive advantage. When you integrate disparate worlds—like tech discipline and creative storytelling—you create a monopoly on vision. Ignite Your Own Market You have more tools today than Steve Jobs had in his garage. He sold a calculator and a VW bus to change history. You have the internet and global reach at your fingertips. The only thing missing is the audacity to execute. Stop watching from the sidelines. Find the problem that keeps you up at night, embrace the maze, and build the future you want to see. Your move.