BootstrapSolar

Here’s to the crazy ones…

A Palo Alto company once bootstrapped a hardware business by hand-soldering circuit boards and selling their first product as a kit that came with a wooden enclosure. 

No, we’re not talking about BootstrapSolar. We’re talking about Apple and the Apple I.

While the Apple 1 may not have been invented were it not for Steve Wozniak’s technical genius, Apple the company surely would not have been if Steve Jobs hadn’t pursued a vision that few others shared at the time. A world in which a computer sat in every home, accessible to even children, would have sounded insane to many of Jobs’ contemporaries. Yet, thanks in large part —directly or indirectly— to him, not only do many of us have computers in our homes, but we even have one in our pockets.

Steve Jobs’ contributions to society are immeasurable and immense. He was a singular genius, and of that I have no doubt. Yet, as idolized and worshipped as he is (and will be), he was no God. I believe the brilliance of the man is shared by all of mankind, if not in specifics, then at least in essence. We can all be a bit more like Steve Jobs, if we so choose. He even tells us how: 

Follow your heart. Don’t settle.

Most of us can’t invent the next Macintosh or turn around a failing computer company. But we all have hearts to follow. And we can all choose to strive for something better. Follow your heart. Don’t settle. If we keep that up long enough, I believe we can all achieve our own insane greatness, whatever that may be. And if each of us could achieve our own greatness, what a wonderful world that could be.

As I’ve been working on BootstrapSolar, that other bootstrapped company has never been far from my mind. My company will likely never be even remotely as successful as Apple. But the mere existence of that precedence was enough to give me the courage to try, despite the odds. So I think it’s accurate to say that Steve Jobs inspired me to follow my heart, and to not settle with the status quo; to believe that I could build a better product, a better company, a better business, and by extension, a better world.

For that, Steve, thank you… May you rest in peace.