Numenta
Jeff Hawkins is the Founder of Numenta, but he is also well known as the co-founder of two companies, Palm and Handspring, and as the architect of many computing products, such as the PalmPilot and the Treo smartphone.
Throughout his life Hawkins has also had a deep interest in neuroscience and theories of the neocortex. His interest in the brain led him to create the non-profit Redwood Neuroscience Institute (RNI), a scientific organization focused on understanding how the human neocortex processes information. While at RNI, Hawkins developed a theory of neocortex which appeared in his 2004 book, On Intelligence.
Along with Dileep George and Donna Dubinsky, Hawkins founded Numenta in 2005 to develop a technology platform derived from his theory. It is his hope that Numenta will play a catalytic role in creating an industry based on this theory and technology.
Jeff Hawkins earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1979. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2003.
Related Links: http://www.numenta.com
Last Updated: Thu, Apr 2, 2009
Numenta's Jeff Hawkins, a frequent company founder, inventor, and product designer for Palm and Handspring, highlights lessons learned during his tenure in technology. He also confesses that these accomplishments were mere way stations in his 30-year passionate pursuit of neuroscience.
Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm Computing and director of the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, speaks at Stanford University's Entrepreneurial Thought Leader lecture series.
After becoming a PhD student in biophysics and facing numerous institutional hurdles barring his desire to study the neural cortex, Jeff Hawkins, Founder of Numenta, decided to think long-term. He put a career plan in place that has lasted over twenty years. Rather than pursuing his passions through academia, he decided instead to focus on making institutional change, adding credibility to his name, earning substantial financial revenues to fund his own pet projects, and helping the neuroscience community mature from the inside. Two decades later, arguably, he's accomplished all of these tasks, and he's still expanding their boundaries.
Jeff Hawkins, Founder of Numenta, was an early observer of the idea that people wanted their primary personal computer to be in their pocket, thus he launched Palm in 1992. The self-described "reluctant entrepreneur" says that he never intended to launch a mobile computer industry (or any company, for that matter) and he describes how he negotiated a limited, part-time relationship with the company, despite the hopes of his investors. He describes in detail the organization's first big failure and its first huge success with the Palm Pilot, and a timeline of the company at large.
Launching a non-profit organization is just as much work as starting a for-profit business, says Numenta Founder Jeff Hawkins. Many of the issues and struggles of leadership are the same, including concerns about funding, building, mission statements, staffing, etc. Hawkins recalls that the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, focused on neocortical theory in the field of neuroscience, was so successful that they were forced to think of their next steps after just three years in operation. A friend showed him how to plot the institute's theories into mathematical planning software, and Numenta, a for-profit entity, was born.
Throughout his thirty-year career launching four start-up organizations (including founding Numenta), Jeff Hawkins has always sworn that the would be home for breakfast and dinner with his family every day. In this clip, Hawkins dispels the myth that launching an organization requires long office hours and frequent travel. Entrepreneurs, he says, can be effective without having to work hard. They do, however, have to make the right choices. Any organization that focuses on making better daily decisions will have the opportunity for broad and deep success.
Jeff Hawkins, Founder of Numenta, encourages entrepreneurs to involve people in their problems and to solicit as many qualified opinions as they can. Don't get tangled in product secrecy and idea ownership at the expense of gaining quality feedback. Instead, he says, be happy that anyone is willing to listen to your ideas and offer the benefit of their expertise. And when it comes to investors, have them involved as much as possible so that they, too, can share the weight of the worry.
After designing about a dozen computer products, Numenta's Jeff Hawkins recalls that two - among them the Palm Pilot - were very successful, half were good, and the remaining were market failures. Here, Hawkins discusses his thinking behind some of his product flops. He also tells the story of a fulfillment disaster that occurred with the launch of the Handspring Visor. After the online ordering system failed, every one of the product's tens of thousands of customers had to be called individually and asked if they'd received their order.
Despite Microsoft's desire to crush the fledgeling Palm Pilot in the 1990's, Jeff Hawkins, Palm's former Co-founder and now the Founder of Numenta, decided to battle on a ground where the behemoth from Seattle could not compete: In the field of elegant design. Hawkins' focus was to make the product as beautiful as possible, and they hired acclaimed design firm IDEO to design the Palm IV. Not only was it easy on the eyes and easy to use, but it was the first consumer product with a lithium battery, and the first to use glue, rather than screws, for seamless closure. 
Jeff Hawkins, co-founder of Palm Computing, talks about what entrepreneurship is and isn't. Hawkins views entrepreneurship as a tool that is to be used sparingly and as a last resort. It is a tool to be used to pursue or accomplish one's goal in life, he says.
Hawkins advises everyone to find their passion and to use the fastest and surest ways to pursue that passion. He also believes it is very important to make the right decisions at critical junctures, as well as having fun while following one's goal.
Hawkins shares his views on outsourcing and discusses how his company decides when and how to outsource. He believes that since the world is becoming global, outsourcing is the right thing to do.
Hawkins discusses the importance of having a planned hiring process while starting any new business. He goes on to say that the people who have not only seen the positives and the growth of the company, but have also lived through the rough and tough times with the company, make the best entrepreneurs.
Hawkins believes that most companies go out of business because they grow rapidly rather than pacing themselves while growing.
Jeff Hawkins, co-founder of Handspring, has never thought of himself as an entrepreneur.Being an entrepreneur is not a career choice, he says, but is something you do at certain points in your life because you have to. Hawkins believes entrepreneurship is a means to an end, as opposed to an end in itself.
Hawkins talks about his life, his education and work experience. He started his career at Intel for 3 years and then moved to a start-up that he did not start. While working at the latter he created his first product - first pen-based computer. He soon realised that all personal computing ought to be smaller and simpler. With this thought he started on the path to try and accelerate this shift - and that was the genesis of Palm computing.
Hawkins never really wanted to start a company, he admits. He considers himself an accidental entrepreneur who was approached by two venture capitalists while planning on building a small product.
Hawkins shares his story about how his initial company was continually acquired by larger companies.
Hawkins shares the various reasons why he and his team finally spun off from 3Com to start Handspring. Although they were reluctant to leave and start a company from scratch, they felt that Palm did not belong in 3Com- a networking company. Palm was the only healthy division in 3Com and they could not continue growing and competing with a financial hand tied behind their backs.
Hawkins discusses how the cell phone took over mobile devices in the realm of personal computing. He projects where Handspring will go in the future with this transition.