Speaking in a Charlotte, N.C., ballroom packed with startup founders and high-level venture capitalists and angel investors, Wozniak – often called “Woz” – dished his thoughts about Apple’s leadership, including blunders his co-founder, the late Steve Jobs, made with holding back the release of certain products.
And while Wozniak told the Observer after his keynote address that he’s unfamiliar with Charlotte’s emerging startup landscape, the Silicon Valley tycoon said the city’s leaders should welcome tech-focused companies because “that’s where everything’s going.”
#theWoz dropping #startup wisdom at #SEVC15 #BestDayEver pic.twitter.com/nOjV5dZVnu
— Doug Speight (@DougSpeight) April 1, 2015
Wozniak’s Q&A with Grant Thornton CEO Mike McGuire capped the two-day Southeast Venture Conference, the largest gathering of entrepreneurs, startup founders and venture capitalists in the region. It was the second time the conference has been in Charlotte – returning after it was held here in 2013. It was Wozniak’s first trip to the Queen City.
He praised the autonomy afforded by startups and detailed his foray into education – which included an eight-year stint as a school computer teacher.
Good point @stevewoz - Do schools inspire creativity or penalize you for not learning the same things as everyone else? #SEVC15
— FlyInStyle (@flyinstyleapp) April 1, 2015
When Jobs died in 2011, people often asked Wozniak if Apple lost its innovative edge. He disagreed, saying his co-founder delayed releasing some products, which ultimately undercut their true potential. Case in point: Large-screen phones.
“We left the larger-screen phone world totally open to all the other companies...Samsung, Nokia and others,” he said. “That was a marketing mistake.”
Critics who say Cook will never replicate Jobs’ charisma or drive are wrong, said Wozniak, who voiced approval for the IOS 8 and iPhone 6.
“I really give Tim Cook a big thumb’s up for being able to break through the technology barriers,” he said. “I also admire his care and concern about humanity and charity. I look at it as a new Apple, and I’m very happy with that.”
He said if Apple wants to keep growing, it needs a product based around something people spend a lot of money on – their cars.
A self-driving “automobile makes a lot of sense for a company like Apple,” he said. “Tesla has set an example that a new car company can come, not out of Detroit, but out of Silicon Valley. Just the price of cars make me think Apple should work on it.”
.@stevewoz sees a day when you can order a self driving @Uber #SEVC15
— Jason Caplain (@jcaplain) April 1, 2015
Pitching debut
The conference coincided with the last day of the Charlotte Venture Challenge, a 14-year-old pitch contest offering startups the chance to pitch ideas to investors for possible funding.For the first time this year, finalists were able to pitch to 600-plus investors at the venture conference. General Graphene, a Tennessee-based firm that creates graphene, a thin layer tightly-packed carbon that is stronger than diamonds, took home the $20,000 prize.
The competition was the firm’s pitching debut, said founder Vig Sherrill. He next hopes to snag funding from top-tier investors in Silicon Valley, and raise $7 million in capital.
“What we need to do is not small dollar,” said Sherrill, 54. “It’s expensive.”
©2015 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
