Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell on Steve Jobs at Atari and Finding the Next Jobs

[MacRumors]

The Next Web has dug up a video of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell's keynote presentation at Campus Party Brasil, where he spent time remembering Steve Jobs' work at Atari as well as talking about segments of his upcoming book "Finding the Next Steve Jobs."

What is one of the characteristics that made Steve Jobs successful? He was creative, but you know what else was really important? He was a very, very, very hard worker. How many of my employees did I find sleeping under their desks when I came in early on a Monday morning? Not many. Did he kinda smell bad? Yeah. That's cause we didn't have showers, and if you didn't go home for two or three days you could get gamey.

Bushnell goes on to mention that one of the most important messages he gave Jobs was that if 99 percent of people thought something was crazy, and the one percent that created the idea thought it was cool then the idea's creator should "pursue it with all vigor." This message has been echoed by Apple and Jobs multiple times, including in Apple's "Here's to The Crazy Ones" commercial and "Think Different" slogan.

He packs his hour-long talk -- the Jobs portion starts at the 13:00 minute mark -- with additional anecdotes about Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, like how Jobs offered Bushnell a third of Apple for $50,000, which Bushnell passed on.

Article Link: Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell on Steve Jobs at Atari and Finding the Next Jobs

[mrsir2009]

Wow, I didn't know Jobs had been involved with Atari

[Macrolido]

Originally Posted by mrsir2009

Wow, I didn't know Jobs had been involved with Atari

He was one of the first 50 employees of Atari.

[iheartiphone4]

Originally Posted by mrsir2009

Wow, I didn't know Jobs had been involved with Atari

You obviously didn't read the autobiography on Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

[macs4nw]

Always fascinating to read independent/third party tidbits of information. Wonder if he regrets declining Steve's offer. That was obviously very early on in APPLE's existence.

[Pentad]

Originally Posted by iheartiphone4

You obviously didn't read the autobiography on Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

Sadly, a terrible autobiography.

[twigman08]

Originally Posted by Pentad

Sadly, a terrible autobiography.

May I ask what was so terrible about it?

[Puevlo]

I disagree. Showering is very important for hygiene and can stave off cancer.

[ArtOfWarfare]

The biography suggested SJ was smelly because he was a hippie... but I suppose this "worked too hard to have time to shower" explanation lines up with what I gathered Jobs was like, too.

[daverso]

Nice to hear something positive about Steve for a change. Seems like there's been more coverage about his bad habits than his good since his passing.

Kind of bizzare that the sleeping under the desk wasn't mentioned from what I recall in the biography... Puts his 'smelling' into perspective a bit. Makes me like Steve any more.

[Mr.damien]

"How many of my employees did I find sleeping under their desks when I came in early on a Monday morning? Not many."

Show the way and start to sleep at work...

The point with SJ is that he WAS the CEO and working hard at work. He was not the CEO asking others to sleep at work.

[johngordon]

On the subject of Jobs and showering, I don't think it has to be the case that he didn't shower / could smell as a result because he either spent days at work, or could be a bit of a hippie. Presumably both could have applied.

[janstett]

Originally Posted by Macrolido

He was one of the first 50 employees of Atari.

As was Woz, who also developed Breakout, probably the best Pong variant ever.

I was a kid when the 8 bit wars were going on before the IBM PC and always imagined some kind of holy platform war (and for the youngsters it wasn't like today, you had 6 or so different platforms that all had 10-20% market share). Blew my mind that Jobs & Woz worked for Atari.

[CrickettGrrrl]

Originally Posted by twigman08

May I ask what was so terrible about it?

I thought that Isaacson was repetitious for one thing (so help me god if I hear, read or see the word "petulant" or variants again in my lifetime! He exceeded the quota twice over, at least); and in spite of the book length, all the interviews, all the research, it felt like Isaacson didn't really get what was so amazing about this computer revolution. I just felt that he is comfortable in thinking in stereotypes. He didn't reach.

[senseless]

Virtual reality glasses could be the next big thing. It's been tried crudely before, but processing power is up to the task now. I wonder about the long term effects though.

[bdavis89]

Originally Posted by iheartiphone4

You obviously didn't read the autobiography on Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

You obviously don't know what an autobiography is.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by janstett

As was Woz, who also developed Breakout, probably the best Pong variant ever.

I was a kid when the 8 bit wars were going on before the IBM PC and always imagined some kind of holy platform war (and for the youngsters it wasn't like today, you had 6 or so different platforms that all had 10-20% market share). Blew my mind that Jobs & Woz worked for Atari.

Bushnell had a great factoid to discuss about Woz. He was never hired in any official capacity by Atari. He got two employees for the price of one.

[jkeekij]

Originally Posted by bdavis89

You obviously don't know what an autobiography is.

Exactly!

Autobiography = An account of the life of a person, written by that person.

Biography = A detailed description or account of someone's life.

[Risco]

Nolan Bushnell sounds and looks drunk!

[flottenheimer]

Originally Posted by senseless

Virtual reality glasses could be the next big thing. It's been tried crudely before, but processing power is up to the task now. I wonder about the long term effects though.

Google Project Glass
http://www.techradar.com/news/video/...o-know-1078114

[tknelson]

Originally Posted by flottenheimer

Google Project Glass
http://www.techradar.com/news/video/...o-know-1078114

... and you thought guys walking around with their bluetooth talking loudly into air were d-bags. Nothing that looks anything like project glass is ever going to be embraced by the general public.

To wit:
http://zowchow.com/2013/02/01/what-h...oogle-glasses/

[LethalWolfe]

Originally Posted by flottenheimer

Google Project Glass
http://www.techradar.com/news/video/...o-know-1078114

Would that fall more under augmented reality than virtual reality? With that being said the Oculus Rift is making VR waves.

[HiRez]

if 99 percent of people thought something was crazy, and the one percent that created the idea thought it was cool

I don't understand this part, can someone explain it to me? What does he mean by the 1% who created it? Why would 1% of people create something, and why wouldn't the people who created the idea think it was cool?

I mean is he basically just saying if 99% of people thing something is crazy and 1% of people think it's cool, it's probably an idea worth pursuing?

[Marty Goldberg]

Originally Posted by mrsir2009

Wow, I didn't know Jobs had been involved with Atari

Yes, he was hired in 1974 as a technician. A technician's job there was to work with the engineers and carry out fixes and mods to the game PCBs. Arcade video games in those days were engineered of course, and not programmed.

Originally Posted by Pentad

Sadly, a terrible autobiography.

Well it did get most of the material in his time at Atari wrong.

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Bushnell had a great factoid to discuss about Woz. He was never hired in any official capacity by Atari. He got two employees for the price of one.

Another interesting factoid: He didn't hire Steve Jobs as he's claimed in recent pr, Al Alcorn did.

Originally Posted by janstett

As was Woz, who also developed Breakout, probably the best Pong variant ever.

To be clear, Woz engineered a prototype of Breakout. The game play/idea, etc. was already defined by Nolan and Steve Bristow. Also, his prototype wound up not being used and a new one was created up in Cyan (Grass Valley, Atari's R&D at the time). We actually have the full story on that and on Jobs' time at Atari in our book we released this past November on Amazon (800 pages worth), called "Atari Inc. - Business Is Fun".

[jodelli]

Originally Posted by senseless

Virtual reality glasses could be the next big thing. It's been tried crudely before, but processing power is up to the task now. I wonder about the long term effects though.

Reality distortion glasses would sell really well. I mean look at television.

Originally Posted by twigman08

May I ask what was so terrible about it?

(Isaacson)

I had trouble plowing through it after several hundred pages. Isaacson seems dry somehow, ALTM.

Originally Posted by Marty Goldberg

Yes, he was hired in 1974 as a technician. A technician's job there was to work with the engineers and carry out fixes and mods to the game PCBs. Arcade video games in those days were engineered of course, and not programmed.

Welcome, Marty!