Andy Hertzfeld on the Macintosh, Steve Jobs and General Magic

In this episode, Andy Hertzfeld shares his inspiring story from childhood through to creating the Macintosh and on to General Magic including the highs and lows along the way.

We discuss his career and friendship with Steve Jobs and what it takes to hold a seemingly impossible vision, build a pioneering team capable of achieving it and, most importantly, when and how best to execute.

There are many great stories in this episode, and anecdotes of a pivotal time in tech history but, best of all, Andy shares the lessons he learned from the successes, and the failures.

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This episode was hosted by me, Danielle Newnham - a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years, and produced by Jolin Cheng. https://twitter.com/daniellenewnham

Andy Hertzfeld https://twitter.com/andyhertzfeld

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Notes

In this episode, Andy and I discuss:

"Marc" which is Marc Porat - the co-founder of General Magic with Andy and Bill Atkinson. In 1990, Marc wrote the following note to John Sculley, imagining a truly smart phone: "A tiny computer, a phone, a very personal object . . . It must be beautiful. It must offer the kind of personal satisfaction that a fine piece of jewellery brings. It will have a perceived value even when it's not being used... Once you use it you won't be able to live without it." NB Interview with Marc coming soon!

The General Magic documentary which can be found on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/general-magic/id1458835312

Andy's book - Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made - can be bought here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revolution-Valley-Paperback-Insanely-Great/dp/1449316247

Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate.