In The Company Of Giants

Imagine the world without personal computers. Not so easy to do, is it? Now try imagining the sheer Grand Canyon-sized imagination needed to launch this computer revolution in the first place. Real hard to do that, isn't it?

Well, maybe that's what separates the mere mortals from the giants. Bill Gates and America Online's Steve Case are just two of the pioneers who booted us into cyberspace. And if you've ever wanted to probe the genius of said pioneers, check out the appropriately titled In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations With the Visionaries of the Digital World (McGraw-Hill, $24.95 cloth).

Authors Rama Dev Hager and Rafael Ortiz do a fine job of posing smart questions to masterminds of the electronic age--and, perhaps more critically, their interview subjects give interesting answers. Even nontech en-trepreneurs will relate to Apple Computer's Steve Jobs emphasizing the importance of finding--and keeping--the best employees. "When you're in a start-up," says Jobs, "the first 10 people will determine whether the company succeeds." Even us mortals can understand that.

This article was originally published in the June 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: In The Company Of Giants.