
A Tribute to Andy Grove (2015) [video] - fforflo
http://a16z.com/2015/09/28/the-man-who-built-silicon-valley-a-tribute-to-andy-grove/
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julianpye
'Let's remember that millions of young people who have had the misfortune of
being born in the wrong national boundaries are going through all the horrors
that Ben described. I made it. Let’s try in a little way to help them make
it.'

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mathattack
I was hugely influenced by reading Grove's writing. He had phenomenal impact
as a technologist, even bigger as a technology leader, and yet more educating
other technology leaders. Under his watch Intel was one of the few companies
to avoid the innovator's dilemma, and he wrote about how others could avoid it
too.

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projproj
Just read about Andy Grove yesterday in The Innovators: How a Group of
Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter
Isaacson. Great book (though its thesis and the story in the book would
contradict the assertion that a single man built Silicon Valley).

~~~
maxxxxx
It would be nice if hero worship got reduced. When something succeeds there
are tons of people who contribute to that success and not only the guy at the
top. Grove was certainly a smart guy but he did not make Silicon Valley. He
was one among many people that made Silicon Valley.

~~~
roflchoppa
the jobs effect

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tmaly
I remember watching him give a talk in a small auditorium at Intel in 1999. He
was the American Dream.

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girkyturkey
Andy Grove: the man, the myth, the legend, but the first? Companies were
around before Intel, but Andy Grove was the one who revolutionized Silicon
Valley. He was the Wayne Gretzky of hockey.

~~~
bhahn
Did you mean the Wayne Gretzky of Silicon Valley?

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outworlder
Do we really need the assertion that he built it by himself? There are well
known Silicon Valley companies which predate intel by decades.

Andy Grove sure was an exceptional man. He changed the history of Silicon
Valley. Which is no lesser feat.

~~~
davepeck
There's no doubt as to the magnitude of Grove's influence, but the assertion
might be a little strong.

I'd argue the Traitorous Eight were the first to break the cultural mold and
set the tone for modern entrepreneurship in the Valley. Two of the traitorous
eight (Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore) later founded Intel, and another (Eugene
Kleiner) established one of the Valley's most storied VC firms.

~~~
marcuskaz
The culture of the Valley is really interesting, Stanford Professor Frederick
Terman probably should get the most credit. He influenced companies from the
very beginning.

Also Hewlett and Packard are often cited as the two that really set the tone
and culture of valley, The HP Way management style was modeled by numerous
companies.

Hewlett and Packard were influenced greatly by the Varian brothers whose
company in the 40's were some of the first to have radical ideas of profit-
sharing, stock-ownership, insurance, and retirement plans for employees.

Fairchild still had the Eastern company mindset of top down driven which with
poor management led to the Traitorous Eight but the culture was already
started in the Valley.

More info on Varian at:
[http://siliconvalley.town/varian/](http://siliconvalley.town/varian/)

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diskcat
I have never heard of Andy Grove before today.

Perhaps that is working as intended.

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mickrussom
Steve Jobs - hipster IP thief whole stole every last idea from Xerox PARC
shamelessly. Real talent was Woz. Jobs was an aggressive, rude, lucky
marketing machine whose success could not be recreated even if he was
reincarnated. Apple has huge amounts of money and employees, but a year of
work from IP4S to IP5 produced an extra row of Icons and a $650 dollar IP5
that still caters to carrier lockins. Little brat Apple trying to sue Samsung
while Android has captured over 50% market share.

Without Steve Jobs we would have: No overpriced poorly supported iProducts, No
hyper expensive laptops, anti-standard non-USB connectors, ruthlessly jailed
operating systems.

Without Andy Grove : No x86 - the ultimate revolution in tech the world has
ever seen, inexpensive, effective and universal.

When Jobs died it was like a third world funeral for a Dictator. Andy dies,
nothing from the media. ..

~~~
zimpenfish
"nothing" isn't entirely true -

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35221693](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35221693)

[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/21/andy-
grove...](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/21/andy-grove-
visionary-leader-intel-dies)

[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-
news/visionary-...](http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-
news/visionary-exintel-chief-andy-grove-dies-at-79-34560831.html)

[http://www.macon.com/entertainment/celebrities/article674379...](http://www.macon.com/entertainment/celebrities/article67437932.html)

etc.etc.

