Nolan Bushnell Founded one of the most successful and formative Video game companies to date. He is also considered the father of electronic gaming by many. Bushnell was born in Utah in 1943. In 1970 he worked on the project he called “Computer space” Which would later in a round about way morph into what we fondly know as pong today. He enrolled in the University of Utah in 1961 where he would study both engineering and business. A large part of his success in both school and his business ventures he would attribute to his charisma and alluring persona. His first hire would be his children’s baby sitter who he instructed to, even if she saw that he was no busy, inform callers that she would have to check whether or not “Mr Bushnell was available”. With this confidence and showmanship he was able to entice on board workers, partners, and investors that would greatly help his company’s development. Bushnell would start a company with partner Ted Dabney they would name “Syzergy” in 1969. He hired Al Alcorn to create a ping pong simulator and described what he wanted to a T. This game would later be installed at bars and arcades until it morphed into the home gaming system it did several years and a lawsuit (he sort of stole the idea for the pong game from another programming company) later. Bushnell and Dabney would rename their corporation Atari because the name Syzergy already existed. Atari rode off the success of Pong in the arcade format it held such high popularity in. Atari decided that to continue this success the company should be available in a more compact, home format. They worked with designers and friends, Steve Jobs being one of them, to design the Atari home gaming system. They waited to release until they felt they had more games and a way to create customer interest. While they were trying to find a way to be more appealing to audiences, Atari was contacted by Warner Brothers and would soon be bought by the company. The Atari was released and became a huge success. Bushnell would eventually leave the company he created over a disagreement over the company’s direction but he was happy with the decisions because he wanted to work on other projects, which he would later accomplish.
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Nolan Bushnell seems like a very intelligent individual. Sometimes it’s a matter of what others think of you in the business world. Although smart, I think its funny how he convinced potential investors and partners that he was a big deal.