Smash Notes

Back to #420 Steve Jobs In Exile, with David Senra.

What Did Paul Rand Charge for the NeXT Logo?

David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Paul Rand's price for the NeXT logo was $100,000, whether or not NeXT used it.

Steve Jobs wanted a logo and hired Paul Rand, a renegade who did things his own way and one of the most respected figures in American design. Rand believed, as Jobs did, that a logo should convey something essential about a company's value. He had created logos for IBM, UPS, Westinghouse, and ABC. When Ford invited him to redesign its logo, he walked into a room of 50 executives, asked who made the decisions, and presented only to that person while the other 49 watched. The first time they spoke, Jobs asked for a few options. Rand refused. He would solve the problem and Jobs would pay him. Jobs agreed to the fee.

Senra uses that price to mark a theme that runs through NeXT. Jobs had too much of his own money and too much from his investors, so he stopped watching costs. He later admitted they did the opposite of what they did when they started Apple. He told the staff to control costs, then spent with the champagne taste he had gotten used to. The burn rate climbed year after year.

Grokipedia·David Senra·Paul Rand

Transcript

#420 Steve Jobs In Exile ·

Founders

More from this episode

  1. How Much Did Ross Perot Invest in NeXT?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Ross Perot put $20 million into NeXT for a 16% stake and became the company's largest outside shareholder.
  2. Why Did NeXT's Chip Designers Quit After Their Bonuses?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT's chip engineers, Big Dave and Little Dave, took $25,000 bonuses and quit.
  3. What Did Steve Jobs Learn About Overplaying His Hand?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Steve Jobs learned never to overplay his hand after a higher-margin IBM deal collapsed.
  4. How Did NeXT Count Unsold Computers as Sales?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT booked machines sent to distributors as sales even when no customer had bought one and no money had changed hands.
  5. What Did Steve Jobs Learn From Failing at NeXT?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT taught Steve Jobs something he never learned at Apple: how to turn failure into fuel.
  6. Who Did Steve Jobs Feel He Worked for?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says that by November 1995 Steve Jobs felt he worked for most of the people doing the brilliant work.
  7. How Did NeXT Get Steve Jobs Back Into Apple?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT got Steve Jobs back into Apple because a product manager named Garrett Rice called Apple, and Jobs then showed…
  8. Did Steve Jobs Care About the NeXT Sale Price?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Steve Jobs did not care about squeezing every penny out of the sale of NeXT.

People

More answers like this

More with David Senra

Related episodes

Plays from this note through the rest of the episode.

Weekly highlights

One letter a week.

The notes worth hearing, with the minute they were said.