At Apple, ideas weren’t just encouraged—they were expected to become. In the early days, Steve Jobs didn't simply ask, “What can we build?” He asked, “What wants to exist?” It was less a question of invention, more a matter of listening carefully to the future.
The personal computer, the iPod, the iPhone—each one arrived as if on cue, just as the world was ready for them. Apple, and the culture Jobs built there, was uniquely positioned to notice the signal before it became obvious. They didn’t will these ideas into being. They caught them—like a wave cresting at just the right time.
This is the paradox of entrepreneurship: ideas that will make someone money are inevitable. The internet was always going to have marketplaces, search engines, video platforms. The only question was: who would build them, and when?
Many first-time founders overemphasize ideation. They try to sit down and think up something that will make money. But value isn’t conjured from a blank page. Money is a contract—an agreement between