I don't think this approach is appropriate for the vast majority of entrepreneurs. Mr. Jobs was a unique character with a perspective on the world that few others (appear to) share.

It seems that entrepreneurs these days are concerned with "building something awesome (to also make money)", and that's not what Steve Jobs did.

> I don't think this approach is appropriate for the vast majority of entrepreneurs.

Only the successful ones. It's one thing to create a product that answers an existing need (and that may already have competition). It's quite another to create a product that people don't realize they need until they see it.

The classic example is the personal computer. Steve Wozniak tried and failed to interest HP (his employer at the time) in backing his personal project, a small, one-board computer that anyone could own. HP didn't see the potential, so Woz was allowed to carry the idea away from his employer and pursue it on his own.

As Jobs often said, it's the difference between evolutionary and revolutionary.

Don't get me wrong -- I personally never got along with Jobs and couldn't work with him, but in this respect, he was often proven right.

I don't know if I agree that your Woz example is the best one...it's one thing to not be able to convince management, it's another not to be able to convince the average Joe.

> ... it's one thing to not be able to convince management, it's another not to be able to convince the average Joe.

I agree with your point, but Woz and Jobs convinced both -- they convinced both financial backers and the public. I'm just saying it's possible, and such stories often accompany noteworthy technological breakthroughs.

"unique character with a perspective on the world that few others (appear to) share"

Thats called "being a great entrepreneur". And yes I agree, few people share.

Exactly. So suggesting to all entrepreneurs that their product is possibly failing because they haven't convinced people why they want it yet, is a bad idea.

Let me rephrase that. We both agree that it's fine in the case of great entrepreneurs, so let's subtract those out from your statement:

> So suggesting to bad entrepreneurs that their product is possibly failing because they haven't convinced people why they want it yet, is a bad idea.

When said this way, I don't see why it would be true. You don't give illiterate people different advice if they want to write a book: you tell them to read lots and lots of books. The fact that they can't, simply means that they can't, if-and-until they change themselves so they can.

Similarly, the fact that bad entrepreneurs can't convince people to want something, simply means they fail as entrepreneurs. They don't get a handicap lane to execute in; there's only one market. If they want to succeed, they don't need a crutch; they need to become better entrepreneurs.

To quote Henry Ford: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Ford never said this, and it isn't true anyway. At least in cities, the public didn't want horses, they wanted better cars and more financing options.

In New York City alone, hundreds of horses died in the street every day, and the owners simply unhitched their carriages and left, resulting in streets clogged with horse corpses. Horses generated over a hundred tons of manure daily, which, combined with the dead horses, was a sanitation nightmare that led to typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.

I hear this misattributed quote so often on Hacker News that it makes my head spin. :-)

When one has a multitude waiting eagerly for pronouncements, then, of course, solving the problem of showing may be left as an exercise for the reader.

The thing is, he didn't when the iPod came out. There were a million other MP3 players; the market was well saturated and everyone had their favorite which was not an apple product. Nobody was waiting in line.

"People trust the Apple brand...iMac, iBook, iPod, " - Steve Jobs introduces the iPod at the 2001 Music Event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs

I don't understand this often repeated argument. Apple didn't suddenly appear with a million customers/fans, they started from zero.

I'm talking about the timeframe in which someone would use Jobs as an example, not his days with Woz.

people have been using Jobs as an example since before 1984 – http://folklore.org/

I would rephrase that to "making them want through marketing".

Yes, absolutely -- often these "needs" are manufactured out of nothing by manipulating public opinion. Example: the pet rock (my favorite example).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Rock

Lots of people and creative entrepreneurs in the world.

1 steve jobs :)

You don't need to be Steve Jobs to be a successful visionary. It's all about what is the vision, and how you can implement that vision. Committees take shortcuts, and will approve a lesser quality product because there is no direct ownership. When its you personally responsible, you take more pride in your product. This site will be great for the leeches and bottom feeders, but I would bet everything I have that there will not be one great product that emerges from this site.

I'll personally take that bet with you.

Vlad (at) DarwinApps.com for details.

Great response Vlad. If someone is going to bet "everything they have" against you succeeding, take it.

Lol, good answer. Though it would be a lose/lose bet with you I'm afraid.