Interview with Atari's Al Alcorn

I can't believe this is the last episode in Series 1, and we're going out with a bang!

But before we get into it, just a reminder to hit the subscribe button here so that you are the first to hear Series 2 which includes more incredible interviews with inspiring tech founders and innovators from Megan Smith (General Magic, Google, US CTO) to David Byttow, Dan Bricklin and Rana el Kaliouby.

Back to this episode, I speak to Al Alcorn – electrical engineer, Apple Fellow and the man who created Pong – one of the earliest arcade video games and one of the first home video games to be commercially successful. Pong very much put Atari at the forefront of what became the gaming industry in the early 70s.

Al is a great storyteller and we dive into the early days of Atari from hiring an 18 year-old intern called Steve Jobs and watching Steve and Woz (pictured below with Al at the Computer History Museum in 2011) start Apple - to getting Pong into the hands of hundreds of thousands which launching an industry that is now worth billions.

We also talk about the financial struggles Atari experienced, the copycats they had to deal with and what it meant for the company when Atari got sold and the suits came in to run it.

And we talk about life post Atari for Al, as he continued to pioneer in the tech field, becoming an Apple Fellow.

It is rare that one gets to talk to someone who was at the dawn of an industry so I am grateful to Al for his time and hope you enjoy our conversation, as much as I did.

Listen to it here and please don't forget to like, review and share - it means so much to me and helps others to find it too.

A big thank you to Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive, limited offer $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD.

Finally, a huge thank you to my guests in Series 1: Andy Hertzfeld, Richard Browning, Philip Rosedale, Shellye Archambeau, Jim McKelvey, Dhiraj Mukherjee, Dr Catherine Breslin and Al Alcorn.

And a massive thank you to the thousands of listeners who have joined me on this journey - I have really enjoyed brining you these interviews and I can't wait to share more in Series 2.

See you on the other side.

Danielle