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Founders: #291 David Packard (Founder of HP)

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What I learned from reading The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company by David Packard. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by signing up for Founders Notes ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best ! ---- Do our products offer something unique? Customer satisfaction second to none is the only acceptable goal. What I learned from rereading Jeff Bezos' Shareholder Letters for the 3rd time (Founders #282) In Silicon Valley, the ultimate career standard was set by David Packard: start a company in a garage, grow it into the leading innovator in its field, then take it public, then take it into the Fortune 500 (or better yet, the Fortune 50), then become the spokesman for the industry, then go to Washington, and then become an historic global figure. Only Packard had accomplished all of this; he had set the bar, and the Valley had honored his achievement by making him the unofficial "mayor" of Silicon Valley. —The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company by Michael Malone Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson. (Founders #214) Gates read the encyclo

[00:00:00] David Packard rejected the idea that a company exists merely to maximize profits. I think many people assume wrongly that a company exists simply to make money, Packard said. While this is an important result of a company's existence, we have to go deeper to find the real reason for our being. Do our products offer something unique? Are people's lives improved because of what we do? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then Packard would deem HP a failure. Most entrepreneurs pursue the question, how can I succeed? From day one, Packard pursued a different question. What…

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