Wise Startup Blog

When you think of every business class you’ve ever taken, one of the first things you’re supposed to do is conduct market research, determine who is going to buy your product, and the decide what you should build. Apple, on the other hand, takes a completely different approach, which may just be their secret sauce.

Apple’s Secret to Success

Steve Jobs has been quoted saying they don’t do market research, and pulling from a Fortune article in 2008, here is the exact quote:

“We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants. The only consultants I’ve ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway’s retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products.”

Jobs believes great products design themselves..

“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.”

Jonathan Ive, the head designer behind the iPod, aluminum Macbooks, etc. gives some insight on how to create a great business, and how to design a product that will make a lot of money; DON’T FOCUS ON MAKING MONEY!

“Apple’s goal isn’t to make money. Our goal is to design and develop and bring to market good products…We trust as a consequence of that, people will like them, and as another consequence we’ll make some money. But we’re really clear about what our goals are.”

Thanks for digging up these articles, check out Joshua’s original post.