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w w w. m a i n e b i z . b i z 13 F e b r ua r y 9 , 2 0 1 5 o n Jan. 30, 1984, a tall, slender young man in a double-breasted suit stood alone at the corner of Clarendon Street and St. James Avenue, bracing against the cold Boston evening, his eyes trained upwards in awe at a streetlight back- lighting the giant snowflakes drifting silently to the Boston streets. Behind him, a crescendo of foot-stomping and cheering grew inside the Old John Hancock Building, the site of the Boston Computer Society's annual meeting. I was running late, but the sight of Steve Jobs, the meeting's guest of honor, stopped me in my tracks. I had inter- viewed him before in Apple Computer Inc.'s Cupertino, Calif., office. But this was a moment to observe from a dis- tance, a precious time to watch a man destined for greatness in turn watch the greatness he found in nature. Minutes later, the soon-to-be 29-year-old would apply the same intensity to the matter at hand inside the building: introduc- ing the company's newest computer, the Macintosh, to deafening applause. e excitement continued through a replay of the now-infamous dystopic, Big Brother commercial that aired during Super Bowl XVIII the week before. Jobs talked about how computer giant IBM Corp. dismissed a series of disruptive technology introductions, including the Digital Equipment Corp. minicomputer in the 1960s and the Apple II personal computer in the 1970s. But once IBM introduced its own personal computer in 1981, Jobs insisted, "IBM wants it all." He said George Orwell was right about the year 1984 and the dominance of "Big Brother." But that would change with the new Macintosh, he said, and "you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984." A video of his provocative speech is at: time. com/1847/steve-jobs-mac. I didn't recall his profile because of the recent snow or the Super Bowl. I recalled it because of a familiar feeling that resurfaced during a recent meeting at a technology company in Portland. While reminiscing with the company's executives about some of the great innovators of the past, including Jobs, I sensed an energy and excitement that I hadn't felt since my early days of reporting on the computer industry. It was a feeling that something game- changing could be invented and devel- oped right here in Maine. It was seeing the kind of innovative spirit that comes from an entrepreneur loving what he or she does, and letting boundaries blur between work and the rest of life. e company, newcomer FieldStack, makes software and systems that can help retailers improve their prod- uct flow, productivity and profits. e software was developed by Bull Moose founder Brett Wickard, who also started FieldStack's predecessor company 10 years ago, and tested the product at Bull Moose shops before starting to sell it to other retailers. Wickard, a Bowdoin College grad- uate who started the first Bull Moose store in Brunswick, realized he had something when one of his distribu- tors said, "you have a secret." Wickard swore he didn't, but the distributor went on to say that Bull Moose stood out in the inventory metrics it saw across all customers. While other cus- tomers had product returns of 14% to 20%, Wickard said, Bull Moose was in the low single digits. e difference, said Wickard, a self-proclaimed "math geek," was that he figured out a way to parse data about what his customers bought or returned, then tried to never be out of desired items. "We used our used goods to infer demand for new goods," he told me during our interview. To Wickard, as is true of many inno- vators, his vocation is a way of life. He works through differential equations in his head while on the treadmill. His face lights up just talking about math and data and using them to improve retail results. And then there's Maine. "Maine has an opportunity to push way forward on technology," said Wickard, a transplant who recognizes Maine's people as a great asset. "e battle is won one person at a time." Thursday, April 2 8:00 –11:00am with breakfast served at 8:15am Hilton Garden Inn 5 Park Street, Freeport, ME 04032 Questions? Contact Rebekah Roy at rroy@mainebiz.biz or visit mainebiz.biz/womentowatchforum Leadership Forum Mainebiz will again host our annual Women to Watch Breakfast Leadership Forum, a panel discussion featuring several of our past Women to Watch honorees. Stay tuned for more information on the panel and topic being discussed. PRESEN T ING SP ONSORS Be prepared for the future. Contact Norris Inc today. 1-800-370-3473 www.norrisinc.com We help you keep them safe On Steve Jobs, disruptive technologies and finding the innovative spirit in Maine L o r i Va l i g r a , Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at l va l i g r a @ m a i n e b i z . b i z and @ LVa l i g r a . i n s i d e t h e n ot e B o o k

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