Steve Jobs Cofounder of Apple Bill Gates Cofounder

Steve Jobs Co-founder of Apple Bill Gates Co-founder of Microsoft

Overview Topic: Comparing role and impact of Bill Gates at Microsoft to role and impact of Steve Jobs at Apple How Jobs and Gates got to their positions Management style/role at company Successful products of companies

Background Information Steve Jobs Bill Gates Born in California in 1955 Born in Seattle in 1955 Met business partner Steve Wozniak while working at Hewlett-Packard Studied at Harvard, but left the school to work with high school friend Paul Allen at Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) Dropped out of Reed College after one semester Started Apple Computers in 1976 in his garage Gates and Allen named their partnership “Micro-soft”

Management Style/Philosophy: Steve Jobs In 1985 Jobs was forced out of Apple because the Board of Directors did not agree with his direction for the company Returned in 1997 to a struggling Apple and gave the company new life Implemented a philosophy of delivering a complete product – hardware and software – all incased in a beautifully designed exterior Was a master public speaker and salesman, however was at times unpopular among employees because of his pursuit of perfection

Management Style/Philosophy: Bill Gates Had a very difficult time at first and was seen as very controlling Had a great understanding of the technology business and was a master at hiring the best in the business Thought that software was the future and realized the value in bundling products and creating platforms

Products: Apple

Products: Microsoft

Conclusion Both Jobs and Gates had their struggles, but were able to overcome them and be successful Had different management styles at their respective companies, but both companies thrived Able to produce incredible technological advancements and products Will be interesting to see where companies will go without their leadership

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