Jessica Livingston

Founders at Work

1. IDEA 1

   Early days are messy

   Livingston interviews founders of famous technology companies about their first years. The stories show confusion, luck and false starts, rather than the neat paths often told later. Nobody knew what would work.

2. IDEA 2

   Wozniak built for the joy

   Steve Wozniak describes designing the early Apple computers mainly because he loved engineering. His story shows how passion for building can lead to something much larger. He never set out to build a giant company.

3. IDEA 3

   PayPal had to fight fraud

   Max Levchin describes how fraud nearly destroyed PayPal. His team built new tools to detect and stop fraudsters, which became one of the company's key strengths. Fraud control became an asset.

All 8 ideas from Founders at Work →