Sam Parr  ⚪️

1/ Recently read this @andrew__reed tweetstorm on Don Valentine on the genius of Steve Jobs, and dug up the very first (1981) Apple shareholder letter, written by Steve Jobs (who notoriously avoided writing these in his later years) with Mike Markkula. My notes https://twitter.com/andrew__reed/status/1256390805960310786 …

2/ 1981 was Apple’s fourth full year in operation, and first as a public company. Hardware definitely was more difficult + cost more to produce back then. Why are today’s software companies doing staying private for 10+ years? What’s going on??

2a/ Questions: Is VC capital causing startups to stay private longer + avoid reporting reqs? Is this driven by VCs having friends mark up investments for “better returns?” Is VC ultimately responsible for stagnation? (would be v ironic) cc: @bgurley @peterthiel @patrickc

3/ Sales nearly tripled, earnings more than tripled, total population of Apple computers approached 1/3 of a million (lets stop staying private guys, it won’t kill your growth)

4/ “We measured up to the problems of growth and environment and came out of the year stronger because of them.” Don’t complain about micro/macro headwinds. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

5/ “In the past year, Apple transformed from small, single-product, single-nation, private company to a medium-sized, multi-product, multi-national, public company”… now a focused + healthy org with excellent tech, seasoned management, strong balance sheet (keys to success)