Jobs has been a little upset recently, not only because he hates Roy's acquisition of Apple, but also because he is very disappointed in Apple's entire business line.

The other day, he asked a couple of senior product managers, "If I want to buy a computer for my friend, which one should I choose?"

I asked this question, not because Jobs deliberately found fault, but because Apple's products were too many and too miscellaneous. Most of the product models are either developed to meet the leadership or to meet the various bizarre requirements of dealers. For example, there are dozens of versions of the Macintosh computer alone, and each version has a variety of numbers, such as 1400 and 9600, and no one can understand it.

In the face of Jobs's inquiry, no one could answer clearly.

What's even more maddening for Jobs is that Apple actually sells printers and servers. The company's business line has become a hodgepodge, chaotic and unstructured, and even the insiders of the company are confused, let alone customers who want to buy Apple products.

At today's product meeting, Jobs heard everyone discuss the business of the product line again, and he was really fed up -

He picked up a marker, strode to the whiteboard, and drew a horizontal line and a vertical line like a thunderbolt.

At this point, there is a 2x2 square on the board. He wrote "desktop" and "portable" in landscape and "consumer" and "professional" in portrait. He said: "We are a great company with 10,000 wonderful employees, but if we are too scattered, we will not make good products! Apple's job is to make four great products, one of which is one grid!"

Only four products are made, and the participants look at each other and are silent.

After a while, some people began to question: "Will it be too big a step?" Now that more than 90% of the product line is cut at once, will there be problems in the cooperation of the business department, and it will be difficult to explain to the supplier?"

Others chimed in: "Yes, the complete product line is our advantage, if there are only four products left, the company seems to have no strength, and it is looked down upon by others." ”

"How can we sell only four products? Many of the conditions required by dealers cannot be met, and profits will definitely drop sharply. ”

……

In addition to the conservative opposition voices, there are naturally also Jobs supporters, although the number is small, but the opinions are surprisingly unanimous and firm.

Just as Jobs was about to throw a tantrum at his explanation, Roy knocked on the door and walked in.

Roy suddenly saw the conspicuous and dazzling four words on the whiteboard in front of him, and his eyes were immediately deeply attracted. He is very aware of the chaos on Apple's current business side, and he is very curious, how did Jobs increase Apple's stock price more than eightfold in the three years from returning to Apple to officially becoming CEO?

Now he seems to have found the answer - focus!

Roy couldn't help but applaud in the strange eyes of everyone, "It's great! It's great! It's worthy of Jobs." ”

The public relations lady who was accompanying her saw that everyone was stunned on this side, and immediately stepped forward to actively introduce: "This is Mr. Roy of Peanut Ventures, the new chairman of our company, everyone is welcome!"

Only then did everyone come back to their senses, as if in a dream, and applauded fiercely with their colleagues around them. The atmosphere of the fierce quarrel in the room was swept away, and it became unanimously enthusiastic and fanatical, no less than the celebration of the festival. Among them, more than a dozen middle and high-level members are the most active, and all of them do not want to show their faces in front of the new big boss.

Roy smiled and nodded, "Thank you, you're great." I hope this applause is given to our new CEO Steve Jobs, and more importantly, to his particularly intelligent business decisions for this restructuring of Apple's business. ”

The scene immediately burst into a wave of applause, one by one praising Jobs's merits and virtues, and suddenly surprisingly unanimously recognized Jobs's positive reforms.

Roy sighed with infinite emotion in his heart, with Jobs's reforms, Apple can be said to have come back from the dead, I don't know what Jobs has experienced in the eleven years since he was expelled, so that he has truly transformed into a mature, leading, and able to control the CEO of a large company.

Jobs was like a fearless warrior, standing in front of him, a little moved by Roy's sudden support, and especially wanted to scold a couple of sentences to express his desire to return to the center of power - Falk you, Falk Apple, Falk world - I'm back.

……

Until 10 o'clock in the evening, Alyssa was also busy finishing the finishing work of the company's acquisition, and smiled at Roy, who had been waiting for her with a tired face.

"Where's Ivy?"

"She's still busy, I guess it'll be a while, let's leave first. ”

"Good. ”

"Jobs didn't come with you?" Alyssa was a little puzzled, it stands to reason that Roy had to invite Jobs to dinner, chat, and cultivate a relationship, otherwise how could he rest assured that the huge company would be taken care of by an outsider?

"He's so busy that he's still in meetings, and he doesn't seem to mean to please me, the new boss. Roy smiled helplessly.

"However, if a billion-dollar company is handed over to an outsider to take care of, aren't you afraid that the manager will damage the public and private interests?"

Alyssa's concern for the future, even after a decade or so, is uncertain, and there is no sure way to avoid the behavior of managers as bastards.

When the company encounters major decisions, some economists believe that shareholders should be listened to, because shareholders are investors, the preservation and appreciation of capital is the most important, and shareholders know best where their interests lie.

But there are also economists who believe that managers should be listened to, managers are professionals in business decision-making, money is not the same as knowledge, and only professionals can make money.

Of course, Roy won't do everything himself, his personal time is limited, and if he does that, a company can't manage it, and he can't talk about dominating the world.

"Thank you for the reminder, this worry of yours is superfluous with Jobs. ”

"Really?" Elisa is not so naïve, human nature is selfish, and without proper and reasonable supervision, it will only breed inefficiency and **.

"Hehe, that's because you don't know how much Jobs loved this job, even 11 years after he left Apple, he was still engaged in computer-related entrepreneurship, even if he bought Pixar, he originally wanted animation studios to serve the graphical interface of his computer. Anyone as focused, curious, and passionate about what he did like Steve Jobs will be successful. ”

Alyssa's eyes flickered, and she still underestimated Roy's preference for Jobs, and she smiled: "Hey, if you let your beloved general go so much, aren't you afraid that he will be poached by others?"

"Haha, no worries. Roy whispered mysteriously: "Jobs has a competitive agreement, unless he is willing to give up the computer industry, otherwise ...... "can't escape my five fingers."

Everyone knows that Steve Jobs was best at grasping the needs of individual users, but why did he leave Apple only to make computers for enterprise services? The answer is that he had no choice but to sign a competing agreement with Apple.

It is conceivable that if this agreement had not been signed, the new company that Jobs had started after his departure would not have failed from beginning to end and failed so completely.

Alyssa's mood was fluctuating again, and her heartbeat accelerated. She thought that Roy was a science man with social difficulties, but she didn't expect that his grasp of human nature was so in place.

……

The two found a steakhouse and sat down.

"How did you think about the last invitation, and are you interested in working at Peanut Ventures?"

"This ...... Roy, what's your investment philosophy?"

Roy was happy in his heart, it seems that there is a play, and it is undoubtedly a very happy thing to be able to work with Alyssa in the future, the other party's rational restraint and his willfulness are simply a match made in heaven.

"You know Arthur Locke, the father of venture capital investment, right?" is a good place to start if you want to convince others and use the industry's most awesome people as examples.

"Is it Mr. Locke who invested in Intel?"

After the "Eight Rebellions" led by Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore ran away, it was Arthur Locke who helped them find Fairchild and help them found what would become Fairchild Semiconductor. After Fairchild Semiconductor fell apart, it was Arthur Locke who helped Noyce and Moore raise funds and found Intel. Of course, he also reaped great rewards in it.

Roy laughed: "In 1978, Locke invested another $57,600 in Apple, and as a result, Apple went public two years later, and Locke's return was 243 times. ”

"Legendary indeed. ”

"He has two philosophies. First, if you want to get excess returns, you must invest as early as possible. Second, it is not a product or industry that is invested, but a person. ”

Of course, the earlier you invest, the greater the risk. So the term "venture capital (VEAI)" was only widely spread after Locke.

Roy went on to explain: "These are two things that I really value. I can be said to be very picky about entrepreneurial projects, and I would rather lack them than overdo them. Sometimes I spend months talking to an entrepreneur to get to know him in all aspects. Moreover, I usually look at the recommendations of friends for the projects I invest in. Also, I don't value any business plans, for example, Intel's proposal was only two pages long. So, valuing relationships and valuing the qualities of the founders is the secret I learned from Lockna. ”

These two concepts, the sooner you invest, the better, and the fact that investment founders value the quality of entrepreneurs, will be common knowledge in the venture capital industry in the future, even after 20 years, they will still guide investors' choices. Locke can be said to be absolutely awesome.

Roy looked at each other confidently, waiting for the lamb to abandon the darkness and turn to the light.

Alyssa fell into deep thought, leaning in, she shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't have the same concept as you. ”