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Scheinman: Was it difficult emotionally to leave Atari ? | |
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Bushnell:
I was exhausted. Atari was an all-consuming entity. And part of it was this chase for capital, this quest for payroll. Because it was perpetually undercapitalized. So to sell the company was in some ways a relief. Literally I felt like I had lost it all almost every other month. It seemed like one crisis after another.
Also, when you're a little company and you hear that National Semiconductor is going to build a game and that Magnavox is going to build a game, then all of a sudden you say, I'm this little tiny... You know, do I have the resources? You don't realize at that time that big companies tend to be really screwed up, so that they'e sometimes really easier to beat than a good, well-tuned entrepreneurial operation. You don't realize that at the time, and they just look like they can outspend you and throw millions of engineers at you, and it scares you.
And what it did is it really vindicated our philosophy of only hiring somebody who's smarter than you are. And that's what we always said. If you don't hire at least one or two people that are smarter than you are, then you're a terrible manager and I don't need you. A lot of managers are afraid to do that because they say that person's going to be able to steal my job. I say, you're not going to get promoted until somebody can do your job for you. |
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Gemperlein: Do you think students should take liberal arts or focus on technology? | |
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Bushnell:
Well, there's the old saying that you hire on enthusiasm and you train for competence. I don't totally agree with that. Enthusiasm moves a long way. But I really look for curiosity because I think curiosity is that forcing function that gives people knowledge and capability. So I look for curiosity. I look for accomplishment.
And I look for hobbies. I always ask people what they do on their time off. Because that gives you many times more of a porthole into their real game than what they've chosen to be educated or what field they've chosen. Like with engineers, I will often ask them how to wire a light switch in a house. You'd be amazed at the number of good electrical engineers who can't do that. What it says is they have a great deal of theoretical knowledge but with no practical underpinnings. |
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...with engineers, I will often ask them how to wire a light switch in a house. You'd be amazed at the number of good electrical engineers who can't do that. |
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Scheinman: One of your companies, Catalyst Technologies, has funded some robotics. What do you think the application of robotics is today, and are you interested in them? | |
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Bushnell:
Robotics is still one of my projects that I would like to work on in some point in time. It's incredibly difficult, much more difficult than a lot of people assume. More difficult than I assumed at the time. I believe that there will be a major wave of robotics sometime within the next 50 years. And I'd like to be part of that. Right now, it's still too soon. Because we know what we want the robot to be. We want it to be a human being. And we are really complex.
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