Jim Armstrong

Jim Armstrong


Member since February 13, 2015
  • About
Companies I've founded or co-founded:
PlatinumPlatter Media, Aurora Systems, Blue Lakes Computing, Exectec
Companies I work or worked for:
Cisco Systems, Apple Computer, National Semiconductor, VA Hospital Palo Alto
Achievements (products built, personal awards won):

OmniScan LaserDisc Interface, VersaCalc, Executive Secretary Desktop Publishing System. AmericaAlive CD-ROM. MultiMedia HANDisc, Apple online support system.

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

Apple Computer, Cisco, Google, FaceBook, SensePoint, Open Treatment

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Getting people to understand what you are talking about. Creating the elevator pitch.

Creating products and services that change people's lives.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Lack of planning about resources required to complete projects. Lack of required capital.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

Stay focused. Think big. Find the right partners.

Full bio

Advisor - OpenTreatment

Jim Armstrong is currently employed as an IT Specialist at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto for the past 7 years. He specializes in Apple technology and IT troubleshooting with Dell on over  6,000 computers at the VA Hospital in Northern California and works closely with VistA's Electronic Health Records. Epic EHR has taken VistA's technology and works using the same MUMPS code.

Prior to the VA, Jim worked for almost 20 years at Apple HQ working along side Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in R&D, Marketing and Sales Support. It was there that he coined the phrase Desktop Publishing. In addition Jim worked under Guy Kawasaki in the Evangelism department during the start of the Macintosh computer revolution and wrote over 100 white papers on a variety of topics along side John Sculley.

In the AppleCare Division,
Jim and his team created the Oracle support databases and knowledgebases and websites that support hundreds of millions of customers. (1983 to 1997)