Steve Wozniak is a legend, rather better known as one of the
co-founders of Apple, rather than the less-of-dapple contestant in a
recent series of Dancing With The Stars. While never as charismatic as Jobs and who never made the fortune
that Jobs amassed. According to many sources, Wozniak is still worth
$100 million, who travels widely and attracts a loyal audience wherever
he goes.
Wozniak, however, was certainly cool in Beirut. Out of a total
audience of 24,000 people, he was speaking on the main stage, where
people were literally crawling other each other to be one of the lucky
8.00o who got to see him live and in person. He remains relevant without being constantly involved in investing in
technology or Silicon Valley. While some of the Beirut audience
were there to hear Steve Jobs stories by Wozniak-osmosis, others were
emerging entrepreneurs working out of garages (nowadays known as
accelerators) who just wanted to know how to scale their own
Moreover, Wozniak had stories and good ones. His collectors’ piece
business card is made out of metal and looks like something Captain Kirk
may have assembled on the Starship Enterprise 3D metal printer. He
told the audience that after 9/11, even on private jets, diners would
have to use plastic cutlery.
As Woz was fond of a decent steak, he built and designed such a
business card to use to cut his steak. Even if this story is in any way
apocryphal, it was still a good one.
Moreover, and this is where readers may like to sit down, Wozniak was
one of the first people to see one of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s
children born.
As friends of the couple, Wozniak and his wife had booked in a lunch
with West and Kardashian only to hear of the birth. Presuming lunch was
off, they were surprised to be invited to the hospital to see the
new-born. Strange bedfellows indeed, but true.
Samer Karam was the organizer of the BDL conference and the
invitation to Wozniak was deliberately aimed at inspiring the emerging
tech ecosystem in Beirut, despite the strife in the countries beside it.
“I created the conference to bring the world to Lebanon once a
year to recognize and celebrate the successes of the startup ecosystem.
It was part of my vision for the sovereign wealth fund of this country
to ensure we are part of the global playingfield.
“Steve helped us this year to continue as the startup megaphone
in Lebanon to the world facet of this strategy and he gave the audience
huge inspiration. We would have him back any time”, he said.
