To An Industry Maverick - Thank You Steve
Posted by Bryan Maggi on Tue, Oct 11, 2011 @ 06:23 AM
THINQ's Connection to Mr. Jobs
I would be remiss if a short word of appreciation was not bespoken about Steve Jobs and his impact on our firm, THINQ, Inc.
In 1995, I read John Sculley's book "Odyssey". In short, it detailed his journey with Steve Jobs at Apple. Although well-written and entertaining, what impressed me the most was his account of Steve's unconventional approach to business and unwavering desire to produce something different and "insanely" great for the market. Fully inspired, we started THINQ, Inc., 3 years later as an IT solution provider for small businesses in Atlanta, Georgia.
Like many, we cut our teeth in this industry on a Mac. Interestingly, THINQ's very first project was in fact, networking Apple Macintosh computers for a small retail business on AppleTalk (painful now to think about it). Nevertheless, it worked.
But what I found most impressive about Steve was in his character during his startup of NeXT Computers. Ousted from Apple, his founding company, by his hand-picked executive hire, John Sculley, he didn't quit. You know the story. He re-entered the industry with his "next" great startup. With his grit, indomitable will to succeed, and unbending belief in himself, he just kept plowing away regardless of the odds. This should serve as an inspiration to all us, especially young budding IT entrepreneurs. It obviously impacted me. A good read on Steve's journey with NeXT is well-documented in the book - 'Steve Jobs NeXT Big Thing'.
Even his "NeXT" logo design served as an inspiration for THINQ's logo. You can see it in our tilted cubed logo design today.
We are grateful for technology buccaneers like Steve, who helped not only pioneer a new science and incredible products, but also a new industry for us to participate in. Steve's meticulousness to detail, high quality, doing things right, and putting the client's and other's interests first, is a great lesson to all of us in the game of business and the game of life.
Bryan J. Maggi - CEO / President
