Mike Markkula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mike Markkula (right) with Steve Jobs (left)

Armas Clifford "Mike" Markkula Jr. (born 1942) is a legendary venture capitalist who provided early critical funding for Apple. After his stint there, he continued on to found Echelon Corporation, ACM Aviation, San Jose Jet Center and Rana Creek Habitat Restoration and to endow the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, where he now chairs the Board of Trustees.

Markkula made millions on stock options he acquired as a marketing manager for Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor, and retired at 32. He was lured out of retirement after visiting Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in their garage. In 1977, Markkula brought his business expertise along with USD$250,000 to buy one-third of Apple. He also brought in Apple's first CEO, Michael Scott, then took the job himself from 1981 to 1983. Markkula served as chairman from 1985 until 1997, when a new board was formed after Jobs returned to the company.

Wozniak, who virtually single-handedly invented the first two Apple computers, credits Markkula for the success of Apple more than himself [1].