Nolan Bushnell

He was not a fly on the wall, he was making it up.

And talking to Al Alcorn, who was there with Nolan Bushnell when they placed that very first machine in Andy Capp's Tavern, it was just great to hear that, and they were just really honest.

They said, "We put it down.

We went to get a beer.

Let's talk about this example.

Nolan Bushnell, co-founder of Atari, was the first to hire Steve Jobs.

And in the book, you share how after a few products that didn't do well, they created a prototype of a basic coin-operated pinball arcade video game, Pong.

And soon they had to produce 3,000 of them a day, but they could only produce 200.

And that's legal.

Now, there's a lot of illegal deception, like you can't use the wrong color rubber on your paddle or you can't shout too loud and distract your opponent because that's not seen as fair sportsmanship, sportspersonship.

So Nolan Bushnell, who founded Atari and Chuck E.

Cheese, brilliant innovator, crafty businessman, when he first invented Pong and was distributing Pong, the video game, way back in the 90s.

You can learn more at innoguide.net.

In this episode, number 113, we'll be sharing part two of Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent by Nolan Bushnell with Jean Stone.

In part one of Finding the Next Steve Jobs, Nolan Bushnell made a pretty uncomfortable argument.

Most companies say they want innovators, but many of the systems they use to hire people are designed to eliminate them.

And I think that problem has gotten worse.

They challenge assumptions that everyone else stopped noticing years ago.

And sometimes they're difficult.

Nolan Bushnell understood that.

That's an interesting thing you do at Target.

Now, Nolan Bushnell was the first boss of Steve Jobs.

He's the founder of Atari, Chuck E.

Cheese.

You can learn more at InnoGuide.net.

In this episode, number 112, we'll be sharing part one of Finding the Next Steve Jobs, How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent by Nolan Bushnell with Jean Stone.

This book is all but a course on how to build innovation into your business.

Nolan Bushnell founded Atari and the young Steve Jobs kept showing up until he got hired.

The perspective that Nolan Bushnell shares is just as true today in the world of AI as it was when electronics was in its early days.

Unfortunately, there are so many barriers to finding people like Steve Jobs and barriers that keep them from getting through the front door of most HR teams.

It may be near impossible to find these people when they do knock on your door, but perhaps this book will stimulate some listeners to change how their teams approach HR, especially related to technical roles, because the people with the best skills in AI probably didn't learn it in college.

So let's get started.

Listen, aren't you glad that we serve a God whose love is so great and so abundant that whosoever will may come.

and may be saved oh this man wanted his banquet table full and this ought to be our prayer God fill up your house again and again may souls be saved in these upcoming days as we go out and compel men women boys and girls and even bring them in our own cars if necessary that they might be saved Back in 1975, a man named Nolan Bushnell, many of you have never heard of him.

Nolan Bushnell, he was the founder of a company called Atari.

How many of you know that name, Atari? Now you're dating yourself a little bit, aren't you? He was approached by another man named Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs asked Bushnell if he would like to invest $50,000 in his new company he was starting.

Apple went on to be one of the most valuable companies in all of the world.

It's worth trillions and trillions of dollars today.

And Nolan Bushnell lost his opportunity with one simple choice.

I'm

going to go meet Nolan Bushnell.

He's

there.

Like being a pompous twonk, frankly.

And I'm doing a keynote speech, mate, who are you? And his big American guy, he said, my name's Nolan, Nolan Bushnell.

I said, all right, Nolan, and what are you doing here at this event? He said, I'm opening the entire conference today.

Because it turns out Nolan Bushnell was the founder of Atari.

And his other claim to fame was that he was the first person to employ both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

They were working for him at Atari.