Business guide: What startup business owners can learn from Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs created Apple, a brand to reckon with in the technology industry. Apple designs and creates iPod, iTunes, Mac desktops, Mac laptops, OSX operating system and the iPhone.

Apple is the largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization and the largest technology company in the world by revenue and profit. It is more than Google and Microsoft combined! Tragic demise of Steve Jobs has created a huge void in the technology industry.

Startup business owners can learn many secrets of success from this genius. Here is a brief overview of a few of them.

It is easy to copy the design and technology of an existing product and offer it at a cheaper price. But this will kill the market in the long run. It is always advisable to identify the customer’s need and to create something unique. Charge a premium for that.

Unique and exciting product with excellent service is a sure recipe for success. Add value to the lives of people by creating mind-blowing products. The focus should always be on creating excellent customer experience.

Steve Jobs once said, “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” It is important to remember this while dealing with the employees. You need to train your employees to work towards creating excellent customer experience. Each and every employee should constantly ask the question, “Is there a better way to do this?”.

Steve Jobs always believed in creating excellent customer experience. As a startup business owner, you have the opportunity to interact with your customers and to understand their needs. You need to make the most of this opportunity. Give them what they want and much more. By doing so, you can be assured of customer loyalty.

It is very important to focus and design and aesthetics. You will appreciate what Steve Jobs has achieved in this area when you look at various Apple products. Steve Jobs brought about a paradigm shift here. According to him, design is not just how a product looks like or feels like. Design is how it works.

Speaking about design, he said, “In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”

Steve Jobs knew that people not only understood simple things, but connected well with simple things. His product design was not just a differentiator. It redefined the whole product.

Steve Jobs had an eye for details. You need to do the same if you need to achieve success. There are no short cuts here. You need to take tough decisions. On some days you may have to choose from a thousand good ideas.

It is important to enjoy what you are doing. Steve Jobs had fun while he worked. But fun not in the way normal human beings perceive it today. He had fun creating mind-blowing products and in selling each and every one of them. He had fun in living the way he wanted to live. He had fun taking bold decisions.

Steve Jobs was a legend who continues to inspire many startup business owners all over the world. By implementing the above-mentioned guidelines into your business, you can create your own “Apple”.