History of Startups
Last updated
Last updated
Arthur Rock’s name is synonymous with Silicon Valley. He contributed to the growth of early Silicon Valley successes such as Intel (where he was a director for over 30 years), Scientific Data Systems, Teledyne, and Apple. In the early 1960s, Rock began to chafe at the conservative attitudes toward new ventures that he encountered in the east. It was “old establishment and old money,” he said. “People have been doing things one way for a long time and it’s very hard to change.” California, on the other hand, felt like the Old West and there was a palpable sense of adventure and innovative spirit which appealed to Rock.
In those days, institutions such as pension funds were not allowed to allocate capital to VC firms, so Rock had to convince a dozen business relations and clients to invest the $5 million he needed for his first fund.
One of Rock’s sternest tests came in the late 1970s with his introduction to Apple. It was hardly an intuitive coupling for Rock but he knew Mike Markkula who had been Intel’s marketing vice president and Markulla persuaded him to take a look at Apple. Rock was thoroughly unimpressed with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the scruffy, long-haired founders. “They turned me off as people,” Rock recalled. But fortunately, he was sufficiently persuaded by Markulla’s enthusiasm to make an investment.
In 1985, with Apple struggling and a young Steve Jobs engaged in a power struggle with new CEO John Sculley, the board sided with Sculley and Jobs departed in a fury. Rock was on Apple’s board and thus in the middle of the calamity. The board did not believe Jobs had the experience and focus to right the ship and made its fateful decision.
