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

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. IBM was going to give him another $30 million, and the deal never happened.

Jobs and a salesman were on their way to Dallas for the presentation. At the airport the salesman said the room was huge, with screens on both sides, so they needed two sets of slides and had only one. He suggested skipping the slides and going straight to the demo. Jobs said he did not have the tools to do the job, said he was too busy, and walked out. The salesman flew to Dallas alone and presented to 800 IBM engineers. The executives read the no-show as a lack of commitment, and the deal died. Jobs had overestimated his power, and he knew it.

Years later he told Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull the lesson from that collapse: never overplay your hand. He walked out knowing NeXT was going to burn $54 million that year.

Grokipedia·Steve Jobs·David Senra

Transcript

#420 Steve Jobs In Exile ·

Founders

More from this episode

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  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.

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