Why Did Jony Ive Join Apple?

David Senra, reading Leander Kahney, says Jony Ive accepted a full-time job at Apple at 27 because he was really only interested in design and was neither interested nor good at building a business.

At Tangerine he wanted to spend every minute designing and making objects. Companies said they hated the work, and in many cases they would rip the heart and soul out of the designs. He disliked running a business because he had to sell jobs, sell himself, and sell the firm. The team spent up to 90% of its time selling services. He loved to design and found the concessions needed to build the business difficult. Bob Brunner tried to recruit him multiple times. Apple hired Tangerine for design work, and after a presentation Brunner pulled him aside and told him that if he really wanted to create something radical, he should come to Apple full time. Brunner remembered mentioning that the opportunity still existed, and Jony Ive answered that it was pretty interesting and he would think about it. Back in London he agonized. He had enjoyed working with Apple, but he was unsure about leaving his homeland and Tangerine, and unsure whether his wife would move to the States.

The project was called Juggernaut. The challenge was to give personality and meaning to a technology still treated as anonymous, and Apple offered a supportive place where a designer could focus less on day-to-day business and more on design as a craft. Through a reckless sense of faith, he got to yes.