“Amid all the reports last week of rising unemployment and Washington’s struggle to pass a stimulus package readers of the business press could not be blamed for missing the news that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak accepted a job as chief scientist at Fusion-io, a storage startup based in Salt Lake City,” Stephanie N. Mehta reports for Fortune.
Mehta reports, “The move wasn’t a complete surprise: Wozniak joined the advisory board of the company back in the fall of 2008. Don Basile, the CEO of Fusion-io, says after spending more time with the company Wozniak became convinced he could do more for the company than simply serve in a consulting role. ‘Steve is going to help us productize the technology, and also explain it,’ says Basile. ‘He’s a very good speaker and evangelist for the transformation we’re trying to do here.'”
“Basile says he and Fusion-io first approached Wozniak about the company in early 2008 after hearing the personal computing pioneer speak at an event. Basile recalls that Wozniak was initially skeptical of Fusion-io’s proposition, but was intrigued enough to want to learn more. Basile kept sending him information, and eventually persuaded him to join the advisory board,” Mehta reports. “But according to Basile both he and Wozniak realized the company would benefit from a deeper relationship… ‘When you have on your team a star who has been an innovator for decades that just makes the whole team better and makes it easier for you to recruit,’ he says. ‘Steve is a rock star.'”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JES42” for the heads up.]
