SUMMER/FALL 2016 INFLUENCE | 65 Ole Steven was a hoot. In his formative years creating Apple, he didn’t shower or wear shoes, spent seven months in India walking around, hung out in an Apple orchard (that’s where the name came from) worked at Atari (they made him work the night shift because he was such an ass and smelled bad.) Atari was just blowing up thanks to Pong, and Steve had a home there. One of the best parts of the story were his adventures at Reed College. He told the dean he just wanted to hang out, not pay tuition anymore and audit classes (like calligraphy, which led to all the font choice we have in computers, now by the way). The dean said sure. (Why was this dean not at UF in the early ’90s when I just wanted to hang out and study sororities, bands and Keystone Light?) The book paints a picture of a not-so-nice man by most accounts. However, I was talking to the CEO of Just Born Quality Confections in D.C., David Shaffer, (they make Peeps, Hot Tamales, and Mike and Ike candies). His son worked at Apple for a while and he said Jobs was nothing but awesome to his son. So, as usual, there are always two sides to every story. Moving on, I was a speaker at the Orlando Sentinel’s Cyber Threat Conference hosted at Canvs, a technology incubator in downtown Orlando. What is an incubator program? A business incubator in business speak is a company that helps new and startup companies develop by providing services such as management training or office space. Business incubators differ from research and technology parks in their dedication to startup and early-stage companies. You may have a preconceived notion of hipsters vaping in T-shirts with blazing logos of gas stations and cartoon characters. Well, you aren’t wrong, but that’s only a small percentage of the incubator crowd. I’ve spent some time at the incubator program in my Tallahassee hood, Domi Station, and Micah and his crew have a first-class setup, giving young and old entrepreneurs a place to set up shop and get their ideas off the ground without having to worry about finding an office, etc. Canvs is unique in that it’s located in the heart of Central Florida’s coolest entertainment district, downtown Orlando. Canvs is hosting up to 50 companies and it is an exciting home for start-ups and some established businesses. So are you wondering why I was rambling about my majestic, narrow-minded selections in literature? Consider this: What if the Woz and Jobs had an incubator instead of sitting in the garage? They could have gotten that Apple 1 launched faster and not have had to hassle their parents with their shenanigans. The incubator scene in Orlando is cool, I had an absolute blast visiting with the neat and interesting personalities and characters that came to hear what we had to say. We had an excellent discussion on cybercrime and from audience members across Central Florida. If there were incubator programs back in the day, consider how many more innovators like Apple might be around today. I think the idea of the community, government and private industry all partnering together for the good of innovation is awesome. Congrats to organizations like Domi and Canvs for leading the charge. Blake Dowling is CEO for Aegis Business Technologies in Tallahassee, and he writes columns for several organizations. You can contact him at dowlingb@ aegisbiztech.com. blake dowling wonders, Is the next Apple hatching at Orlando’s Technology Incubator? { insiders’ ADVICE Going for Gold A client loaned me a book the other day — “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. WOW. I have never understood these Mac disciples, and their worshiping of all things Jobs. I have a small idea now. I even found myself watching Steve introducing the Mac in the ’80s on YouTube clips. And then the legendary “1984” Super Bowl ad, featuring a dystopian world of sameness about to be shattered by the advent of the Macintosh. The Apple Board shot it down — but the Woz (co-founder Steve Wozinak) and Jobs said “Let’s do it anyway.” It’s been called the best commercial of all time. Regarding Apple worship, I’m in … sort of. I also love my new Windows Latitude 2-in-1 tablet (writing this column on it). So I’m in, but keeping the Kool Aid on the shelf.
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