"Pirates of Silicon Valley" - Movie Reflection

1. What are the factors that contributed to the success and failure of Steve Jobs as a technopreneur?

            I am one of the fans of Mr. Steve Jobs due to his ideas contributed in the Apple Company which gives an enormous and massive effect to the lives of the people.  The movie about his life which is the “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” have cleared my mind on who really Mr. Steve Jobs is and also the history of their rivalry of the owner of the famous competitor of the Apple Company which is Microsoft owned by Mr. Bill Gates who is one of the most wealthiest man on the planet Earth.  Before watching the movie about Mr. Steve Jobs, I thought that his company run so smoothly and does not have encountered any rough situations at the past but I guess I was wrong.  In the question, what are the factors that contributed to the success and failure of Steve Jobs as a technopreneur? I am going to tackle first the factors which contributed to the Success of Mr. Steve Jobs. And these are the following factors that I have observed which make Mr. Steve Jobs successful:

·         Great Ideas

o   As we can see on the movie of Pirates of the Silicon Valley, we can observe that Mr. Steve Jobs is the one who is giving more brilliant ideas.  He is not that expert or a master when it comes to building or coding his ideas but still what matters most is, his ideas can really have good impacts to the users or to the people.  It is the weapon of Mr. Steve Jobs, his advantage from his other competitor.  His fresh ideas are like candies, if given to the public then surely the majority will have a taste.

·         Determination and Guts

o   As I observed in the movie, during his starting days they don’t have any good facility to do their projects or computer, they don’t have any good incubation hub but Mr. Steve Jobs did not mind it at all instead they converted their own garage to their new working room or office.  Mr. Steve Jobs together with his small team of determined world changers have never stop, they continue to move own.  I can say that to all aspiring technopreneurs like me, we should not be discouraged so easily.  We must not let problem win us so easily because as what the old saying says “no guts, no glory” let us make Mr. Steve Jobs determination be our inspiration to succeed in life.

·         Adaptive to the Environment

o   I was a bit surprise when I first saw the movie because I never thought that Mr. Steve Jobs and his team is some kind has that “Hippy look”.  Long hair, lots of beards on the face and has a very youthful spirit.  But what I have observed in the movie is, his willingness to change.  Why I say so? Well we can see how he cut his hair and remove his mustache so that he will look formal when talking to customers or clients.  He adapted the environment of the business world which is to look formal.  His friend asked him ones why he cut his hair? Mr. Steve Jobs answered “Banks don’t like beards”.  We can see from the movie how Mr. Steve Jobs look when he first go to the bank, he is just wearing short pants, t-shirt and rubber shoes then his hair is long and his face are covered with beards.  With that look, what bank will let you barrow a capital?  Banks can’t trust the look of Mr. Steve Jobs so he finds it hard to barrow money.  It is a good choice for Mr. Steve Jobs to change and to adapt.  It is a reminder for us aspiring technopreneurs that we must always have a good appearance to the public or anywhere we go especially when selling our products or making transactions to the big companies.

·         Persuasive Talking

o   What I like the most in the skills of Mr. Steve Jobs is his way of talking; his persuasive talking.  Mr. Steve Jobs do all the talking when it comes to dealing their products because there is always a high possibility that the product will sell.  He knows what words to use, he knows what he is talking, straight to the topic and can always catch the attention of the customer or client.  This type of skill is a must have, we aspiring technopreneurs should practice this type of skill because it will build us most especially when it comes to pitching our ideas.

·         Companions/Comrades

o   Mr. Steve Jobs will not become successful without his comrades and close friends.  He needs a friend that is loyal to him and stands with him no matter what will happen to the result of their products.  We aspiring technopreneurs should have a team, a team which will be very cooperative, creative, loyal and supportive because we can’t do all the things in the world along.

·         Passion

o   I believe that Mr. Steve Jobs success will never come if he does not have passion on it.  He loves what he doing and that drives him to do more, to be more competitive and creative.  Passion is like his battery to him, it energizes him on their business and also on his ideas.  We aspiring technopreneurs should have a great amoung of passion on what we do.  Because if have passion and love on what we do then it will surely result into good things always.

Mr. Steve Jobs success does not favor him all along the way, as we can see on the movie, he was kicked out of being part of the Apple Company which he founded together with his friend.  I am sure that it is one of the most painful moments in the life of Mr. Steve Jobs.  These are the factors that contributed to the failure of Mr. Steve Jobs:

·         Forcing too much his workers

o   As I observed in the movie, I can say that Mr. Steve Jobs is not a good boss or president to his workers.  We can see how he put too much pressure on his worker.  His workers did not even have enough sleep and much worst is his workers did not sleep for almost two to three days just to finish all the design, coding or anything that concerns their products.  There is even one worker of him that punches him on the face because his worker can’t handle anymore the stress that Mr. Steve Jobs giving to them.  We aspiring technopreneurs, if we succeed at the future and will have a big company then we should always think that workers are equally important like customers.  We must give them a proper treatment also so that they can give a productive works.  Putting too much pressure will not help them to do more; they will just end up quitting the job.

·         Let his workers fight each other

o   Mr. Steve Jobs divided his people into two departments, the Apple department and the Macintosh department.  Each department has their own line of product to do which is good during its starting days.  But after many achievements that have done by each department, there is something that builds up on the mind of each worker on each department which is the jealousy and the thinking of “we are the best department”.  I believe that is was the start of cold war inside the company of Mr. Steve Jobs.  What’s worst is, he even let each department fight each other because he believes that it will result into good, that his worker on each department will do more.  Mr. Steve Jobs believes that “Creation is messy” but it triggers the workers to fight each other.  What Mr. Jobs do dividing the department is a good strategy on business planning but letting his workers fight each other well it is a no to me.  I believe that taking care of the workers is one of the responsibilities of the president.

·         Trusting the wrong person

o   Mr. Steve’s one of the most wrong thing that he do is to trust Mr. Bill Gates but I can’t blame him because if Mr. Steve is a persuasive person then Mr. Bill is way more better because he made Mr. Steve believe that Microsoft is not a rival which is not really true on the very first hand.  Mr. Steve Job was warned by one of his loyal worker that Mr. Bill Gates is not a friend but a foe but instead of listening he just ignored the problem.  It was too late for Mr. Steve Jobs to know that Mr. Bill Gates copy the structure of their own Apple operating system and Mr. Bill Gates just made some modifications.  Mr. Bill gate is too wise to defend his self that what Mr. Steve Jobs allegation to him is not true.  But in the eyes of the people, it was all clear the Mr. Bill Gates steals his product from the works of Mr. Steve Jobs.  It is a lesson for us aspiring technopreneurs that we must seek those loyal persons; we must know first the background of any person that will work for you so that you will not regret someday if there is anything that will happen.

In so many ways, we can’t blame all to Mr. Bill Gates the failure of Mr. Steve Jobs because at the very first place, Mr. Steve Jobs has a lot of wrong doings too that has contributed to his failures in life.  But if there is something that we technopreneurs should adapt from Mr. Steve Jobs is his passion and determination because as we can see from that movie, he has been kicked out of the company but he manages to go back again after a couple of years.

2. How do you see yourself as a technopreneur?

            How do I see myself as a technopreneur? From this moment, if I rate myself as a technopreneur, I feel like I was still a seed freshly buried in the fertile soil of Information Technology education.  I am a starting seed that needs a caring, a sunlight and water.  A caring which I will receive from the hard-working teacher who did their very best to teach as, especially Mr. Gamboa who is our facilitator in the subject Technopreneurship 1.  Our facilitator Mr. Gamboa is showering us knowledge and wisdom which really have a big impact and help to us, a great influence for us to be far better technopreneurs years from now.  I as a beginner, a starting technopreneur, I am still observing how the world of technopreneurs.  But I can say that I as a technopreneur am valiant.  I can say that being tough and adaptive on the field of technopreneurship is one of the great assets the technopreneur should have, it is a weapon.  I can see myself at the future being successful in the field of technopreneurship.  I am claiming it because I am doing it now.  I am preparing myself and training myself to become more efficient, competitive and creative technopreneur at the future to come.  I am still lack of experiences which I don’t mind because I believe that determination beats experiences and it has been proven for so many times in the past and also in the present successful businessmen.  I am one of the technopreneurs who is still building up the confidence, I admit that I am still having some nervous when talking to the public but as what our facilitator have said, we must have to make our faces be tough in front of the crowd and throw away all the fears because it will make us mental block and can relay all the thoughts and ideas that we have when pitching our ideas or products.  Technopreneurship is a new world for me; I am a clear newbie in this stage of world of pure business mixed with technological aspects.  Looking back at my past, I don’t really care about what I will become at the future, all I have in my mind is I want to find a good and better job so that I can help my parents in terms of finances.  After all, I realized that it was a typical mind set of everyone who does not realize that if they pursue that thinking then it will not help them to rise up their status in life, which they will help their self stuck in poverty.  I am a thankful man, because I have learned the technopreneurship.  Through this subject, I have learned to sharpen my ideas, I become more meticulous on my ideas that I want to pitch to our facilitator, I am more eager to think of an idea that will improve the lives of every human being in this world.  To my classmates who are also enrolled in this subject, we are all competing to each other so that we will become tougher on our ideas, through this we know that it will help us to make our ideas unique from each other.  For us, technopreneurship is not just a subject in our course to just pass on but this is our gateways to our own success in life.  I have seen the beauty of technopreneurship, it will not only make us successful businessmen at the future but also we have the chance or opportunity to change the world through our unique ideas.  I can see myself every time I close my eyes being a president of my own company at the future.  I can say myself as technopreneur at the future because I am making myself as one of them as of this moment.  Technopreneurship is like a stepping stone to me.  As always the experience of everyone who wants to become successful at the future, the first step is always the hard one.  I want to share my first experience in pitching my idea in front of the class and to the facilitator.  That is so cold at that time, my knees are shaking and even though the air conditioning unit is on I am still sweating and I can’t stop my hands from shaking and I can’t utter properly the words in my mind, I was in the state of mental block and all of my practice means nothing.  I was so disappointed because my actions during that day did not meet my expectation at all; it was foolishness for me.  Due to that, I did not expect anymore that our facilitator Mr. Gamboa will accept my pitch idea.  After I finished my pitching, I know already that I did not do well and my idea will become rejected.  Well after all of the pitching that I have done during that day, I am satisfied to my experiences because it teaches me how to become more effective to the next moment of my pitching.  I believe that the next moment of pitching I will not become nervous anymore because I will teach myself to calm down.  I really believe that my idea was good but the way I pitch it is the only thing that makes it worse because I did not deliver well the key points and also the most important thing which is the value proposal to my facilitator.  I as a technopreneur is a observer one, a researcher.  The fact that I am a clear newbie to this world of technopreneurship I accept the fact that I know nothing, just like my favorite character in the American television series “Game of Thrones” which is Jon Snow “The one who knows nothing”.  But I am willing to know everything about the world of technopreneurship because it catches my interest.  I can say that I am a thinker as a technopreneur, I believe that this will become my weapon to have more ideas which can be commercialize to the market.  As what the old saying says “Think before you act”, this is a reality that every technopreneur should have on their own so that they can fight back to the trends of technopreneurship.  Being an aspiring technopreneur, I guess that I have a lot to learn because I am still at my young age and capable to do more.  All I need is to become more creative and productive, to be always ready and always inspired on everything that I will do.  As a technopreneur, I am not thinking only myself to become a successful because at the first place I am not a selfish guy and I don’t want to be count as one of them.  I as a technopreneur I also want to help my fellow Davaoenyos to have jobs at the future because I also want them to have a good life for their child and child to come.  I believe that seeing a city where everyone is making their way to success all together is a good example for the whole country and also for the world to follow.  I together with the dream of my facilitator which is to make Davao as the center of Information Technology Education in Asia is a wild dream, as I am one of the aspiring technopreneur, I am starting to make a move as early as now so that there will be a lot of opportunities and possibilities that the dream of ours will never just a dream, it will become our goal, a success for everyone; what a sweet success.  There is a question in my mind now which is “how am I going to help Davao City?”  Then the answer follows; technopreneurship.  I want to change the way of thinking of the people here in our country which is to graduate and fly away to a foreign country, make money and be a slave there.  I want other student to realize what I realized after I learned technopreneurship.  I have learned that, we Filipinos are never going to be a real succeful if we ourselves will not help our own city or the much bigger picture which is our country Philippines.  There is a lot of opportunities if we take seriously technopreneurship because it can give jobs to those people in our country who has difficulties on finding jobs.  If that they will come, there will be no more reason to fly away abroad, live there for years and suffer alone while your family is so broken.  Yes we can’t deny that there is a way much bigger offer of salary there in abroad, but how can have it also here I we are not helping our own country.  We must think, I realized these all because of the technopreneurship lectures of our facilitator.  I look up technopreneurship as pathway where everyone are free to enter, no gateway fee pass, all free and all we need to have is a great imagination that can give a very brilliant idea that could change the city, the country and most especially is the whole world.  I am treasuring myself being an aspiring technopreneur right now because I believe that this could transform my life and also to everyone who surrounds me.

3. Would you take the same career path that Steve Jobs took? Why or why not?

            Steve Jobs as the founder of apple who eventually got fired and back again is one of the great minds in computer world.  The question is, am I going to take the same path the Steve Jobs took?   Well I would like to take his path during his starting days, wherein he together with his team was too eager to catch the sweet success in business.  I want to follow their determination during those days of building the foundation of their business because as I watched the movie about their lives which is the “Pirates of Silicon Valley”, I saw how they strive for success; they do everything to rise up from nothing.  I am so inspired on the life of Mr. Steve Job on how the way he creates new ideas.  He always thinks outside the box which made him way better that any other competitor of him.  I like to follow the strategy of Mr. Steve Jobs on how they sell their products.  As we can see from the movie of the Pirates of the Silicon Valley, the team f Mr. Steve Jobs always go to any trade fare in their city, introduce to the customers and clients the beauty of their products.  We can see how he attracts people through his persuasive talking, his sales –talk ability always favor them, and it gives them a lot of money.  I want to follow how “risk-taker” he is, but if ever I will have to go under a risk, it should be a calculated risk-taking.  Like him I will make a lot of investors and clients that will provide my future company finances to the projects so that my company will be productive.  Mr. Steve Jobs made a lot of good decisions that contributed to the success of their company.  As an example there is his decision to change his look so that he can fit into the world of business.  Making a good appearance to the customers and clients always results into good.  Mr. Steve Jobs way of having of customer always challenge me.  We can see how he tricks the customers that they can make 50 units at small amount of time, so the customers ordered a lot of units to them.  At first, his team mates were a bit of hesitant to make the deal but they have no choice but to do it because it means money.  The positivity of Mr. Steve Jobs always contributes to their company’s good fortune.  His positivity also attracts his workers to do more.  I will follow the determination and guts of Mr. Steve Jobs on his passion and also his solid ways to reach the top of the business world.  We can see that despite his bad attitude towards his workers the company still grow and become one of the most profitable companies in technological business.  Every man in technological firms know the name Steve Jobs, he is a hero for some of us, a motivation and inspiration.  If I am going to study how Mr. Steve Jobs do or plan his ideas then there will be a lot of things that I will get and things that I can use to make me better and someday become a successful technopreneur.  Every youth of today loves apple products due to their services, services that once started by Mr. Steve Jobs.  There has been a lot of modification happened but we must not forget that this was all started by the brilliant mind of Mr. Steve Jobs.  I am not saying that I will follow all the steps of Mr. Steve Jobs on his way to success, of course I want to be also known as me, as my own ways.  I am not bragging but I want to challenge myself to overpass the legacy of Mr. Steve Jobs.  I want to create more solid and creative ideas to the customers.  I want to make a company that everyone will be happy working.  I want to apply everything that I have learned from studying this technopreneurship.  I want to become the next billionaire.  I would like to follow how Steve Jobs be open on a healthy competition.  We can see from the movie of the Pirates of the Silicon Valley that the company of the Apple is not the creator of the “mouse” which is one of the external parts of the typical computer desktops now.  We all know that it is the invention of the “Xerox” Company.  The IBM Company neglects or ignored this device invented by the Xerox but Mr. Steve Jobs has seen a lot of potential on their invented device.  Mr. Steve Jobs did not accept any failures or foolish projects of his workers, all he needs is something that everyone will buy, something that will make his company continue.  Well we can’t blame Mr. Steve Jobs for being so cruel towards his workers after all.  I will make sure that I will become a successful like Mr. Steve Jobs, I will make the Philippine be one of the top countries that provides a good and efficient Information Technology services and products all over the world.  The Apple Company has been consistent on their products which is to provide a high quality services and always ahead of one step or two from his competitor companies.  I believe that I must build first my ideas so that I will have my own kind of company, a company of innovators.  I just wish and pray that God will shower me more wisdom because I know that he is the only one who can give me the knowledge.  I am a technopreneur and I am claiming it now that I will become a real successful at the future.  When I was just in high school, I have a plan of becoming an entrepreneur because I saw the difference between an entrepreneur and an employee.  Being an employee is too hard and difficult to rise up from poverty and what are worst are their life statuses being an employee does not make them rich or successful; their life has been so stagnant for many years and so late to realize that they do the wrong thing or they have walk into the wrong path of life towards success.  It is a very common scenario to those who are employees but I am not underestimating them all, I am proud of them that they have survived life and works challenges.  However, I believe that if they choose the path of entrepreneurship, they will become the boss of their own business and become a rich person.  There are a lot of entrepreneurs all over the world because they choose to be on top of the business.  It is a wise choice for those who are successful entrepreneurs.  But I am not saying that choosing to be an entrepreneur is an easy way to achieve success in line, many entrepreneurs have failed on their own journey in life due to lack of proper planning and wrong risk-taking.  Being an entrepreneur always come with contingency plan because not all the time that favors will be at your side.  It will also apply to those aspiring technopreneurs, we must always come with a contingency plan so that we can cope up to the new trends in business world.  Let us take the life of Mr. Steve Jobs as an example on our way to success.  Whatever right paths that he did I will follow because I believe that good is good and whatever bad thing he has done well obviously I will never follow.  He has been kicked ones from the Apple Company and been back at the year 1997.  Even though he was kicked out of the company, Mr. Steve Jobs did not surrender.  We aspiring technopreneurs should always remember to never back down, never surrender on life’s challenges.  If I will surrender so easily and early I will earn nothing but dust.  I am already here so there is no stopping now, there is no going back.  I am on my way on carving my name on the hall of fame and I will not let anyone stop me and pull me down, and if ever there is one then I will knock him down.  I will possess an attitude that will never make a customer go away.  I will make everyone remember me as a successful technopreneur, I believe on it and it will happen.  I will never make myself be regretful someday in my life that I did not choose the right thing, doing this whole preparation to become a successful technopreneurs is like now or never.  I believe in the saying that we only have a one shot of success but the technopreneurial world has changed that meaning to me.  In technopreneurship, I have unlimited opportunity to become successful in life, as long as I have my ideas but of course those good ideas then surely I will have a chance to market it to the customers.