What Steve Jobs Taught Me About Great Founders
Steven Rosenblatt, General Partner at Oceans, shares leadership and operational lessons from working closely with Steve Jobs following Apple's acquisition of Quattro Wireless. He breaks down how elite founders balance obsessive attention to detail with grand vision, how Apple pre-sold $60 million in mobile ads on a non-existent product, and why Oceans backed semiconductor startup Etched. Rosenblatt and host David Weisburd also discuss how the velocity and balance sheets of the AI revolution differ from the dot-com and mobile eras, alongside the 20-year development of New York's tech ecosystem.
- The dot-com crash wiped out speculative startups running on venture cash, while the AI cycle is financed by tech incumbents with fortress balance sheets. Read →
- Steven Rosenblatt observed Steve Jobs pre-sell $60 million in mobile advertising inventory at Apple for a product that did not yet exist, showing how high-conviction narrative requires operational backing. Read →
- Seed fund Oceans broke two firm rules to back Etched: they do not invest in Series A rounds, and they do not invest in hardware. Read →
- Apple acquired Quattro Wireless ahead of WWDC 2010, aiming to build a mobile ad network that would generate millions for app developers. Read →
- Apple acquired mobile advertising network Quattro Wireless in 2009 for approximately $300 million, primarily to secure executive talent rather than its existing software stack. Read →