CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 2:13
Why Study Steve Jobs' Exile: Failure and Transformation
David Senra introduces Geoffrey Cain's book on the 12 years between Jobs leaving Apple and returning. He frames it as a story of repeated mistakes and refusal to quit, and reads Michael Moritz's remark that Jobs founded Apple twice.
- •The book covers the 12-year exile between Apple and Apple
- •Jobs made mistake after mistake while burning through his fortune
- •Moritz writes that Jobs effectively founded Apple twice, the second time alone
- •The book is about the personal transformation that let Jobs re-found Apple
- 2:13 – 4:36
Paris Summer and the Founding of NeXT
After being stripped of power, Jobs spends the summer of 1985 in Paris and considers a quiet life. He cannot stay away from building, starts NeXT for the university market, poaches co-founders and triggers an Apple lawsuit.
- •Jobs describes being kicked out as a punch in the stomach
- •His girlfriend's letter describes the Paris bridge and her wish for a simple life
- •NeXT began with no name, plan or product
- •His reputation was poisoned and top Apple engineers refused to follow him
- 4:36 – 8:35
Culture, Hiring and the Cube Design
Jobs hires a filmmaker whose documentary is later key, and he wants a permanent team rather than George Lucas's approach of dissolving groups. He wants combative, talented people and obsesses over a cube design, firing the first designers after a head-shaped computer proposal.
- •John Nathan's documentary Entrepreneurs came from the first team retreat
- •Jobs found Lucas's practice of dissolving teams revolting and wanted grokking
- •Pushing back on Steve was required, and he fired board members who never disagreed
- •The European firm's head-shaped computer led him to hire Hartmut of Frog Design
- 8:35 – 11:51
The $100,000 Logo and Runaway Spending
Paul Rand refuses to pitch options and charges $100,000 for the NeXT logo. Senra uses it to illustrate how too much money led Jobs to abandon cost discipline, with an expensive image and a burn rate that climbs.
- •Paul Rand's price was $100,000 whether or not the logo was used
- •Too much personal and investor money meant Jobs stopped watching costs
- •Jobs wanted a top ad agency, PR firm and prestigious receptionist before having a product
- •Staff joked about the 'millilogo' as a unit worth $100
- 11:51 – 15:40
Hero-Shithead Rollercoaster and Revenge Motives
Jobs' volatile treatment of people is shown through the ad agency pitch and Paul Rand's warning to be nice. Senra contrasts his revenge-driven motives, including Wall Street Journal ads attacking Apple, with the product focus at Apple.
- •Jobs cut off an ad agency pitch by asking for a phone book
- •Staff called his swings the hero, shithead rollercoaster
- •Paul Rand told him that until there's a product, he is the product
- •Jobs later said motives make so much difference, yet NeXT was partly about sticking it to Apple
- 15:40 – 20:10
The Factory, Ross Perot and the Perfectionism Trap
Jobs builds his own factory with a Ferrari-style buying idea, then Ross Perot invests after seeing the PBS documentary. Jobs' perfectionism and micromanagement then delay the product while he blames and fires people.
- •The Fremont factory was meant to give control and a factory-visit buying experience
- •Perot invested $20 million for 16% after seeing the documentary, and Jobs added $5 million
- •A secret handshake deal had Perot using his government networks to sell the computer
- •Jobs blamed others, like manufacturing VP Linda Wilkin, for delays he caused
- 20:10 – 23:18
The Deep Shit List and Bizarro Steve
Jobs' deep shit list and the two Daves' disastrous chip episode push the schedule back a year. He prints a brochure about the logo for the advisory council, while an IBM deal brings in $60 million.
- •Big Dave and Little Dave took bonuses and left, and the chip failed 90 days later
- •The deep shit list became a personal wish list of features
- •He handed out an 18-page logo brochure instead of showing a prototype
- •Dinner with IBM's CEO led to a licensing deal worth $60 million
- 23:18 – 29:20
Launching the Cube: Delays, Costs and Defects
Daniel Lewin warns that the product is late, expensive and unstable, and Perot challenges Jobs at board meetings. The cube ships at $10,500 or more, with only 205 computers in the first year, and the magnesium and matte black decisions made production nearly impossible.
- •Lewin's memo said they were over a year late and the computer took five-plus minutes to boot
- •The Go North joke captured Jobs' vague direction
- •The price landed at $10,500-$12,500 versus the promised $3,000
- •Magnesium casing and matte black paint caused defects despite engineers' warnings
- 29:20 – 32:15
Canon's Investment and a Team That Won't Tell the Truth
Jobs convinces Canon to invest $100 million, but nobody around him tells him the truth. The HR manager's meeting shows executives freezing when he walks in, and Lewin is stripped of marketing after refusing to order inventory.
- •Canon put in $100 million for about 16.67%
- •Executives went silent when Jobs entered after griping about him
- •Lewin refused to order 25,000 computers' worth of inventory
- •Lewin said there were no adults in the room except him
- 32:15 – 35:54
Blown Deals with IBM and Perot Systems
By 1990 NeXT considered scrapping the cube after bad execution, and Jobs then skipped the Dallas IBM presentation and refused to sign the government deal. Ross Perot concluded he had given Jobs too much money.
- •The brochure promotion failed because the envelopes didn't fit
- •Jobs skipped the Dallas IBM presentation, killing the deal
- •He later said the lesson was never to overplay your hand
- •He refused to sign the Perot Systems government deal, and Perot said he gave Steve too much money
- 35:54 – 41:28
Andy Grove's Question, Channel Stuffing and the Hardware Collapse
Andy Grove asks what business NeXT is in and gets no clear answer, while channel stuffing hides weak sales. Canon extends more money, leadership turns over, and Jobs finally gives up hardware in 1992 after clinging to it.
- •NeXT's leaders couldn't agree on what business they were in
- •Channel stuffing counted distributor credit as sales
- •Canon provided $40 million more, then Jobs asked for $20 million and sold the hardware division
- •Jobs refused to let a new CFO see the books, and the CFO quit after seeing them
- 41:28 – 45:28
Transformation: Software Pivot, Larry Ellison and WebObjects
After the hardware failure, Jobs begins changing, and the press calls his dream dead. NeXT pivots to enterprise software, reaches its first profit, follows Larry Ellison's consulting advice, and finds success with WebObjects, including Michael Dell's site.
- •The press asked whether Jobs was a snake oil salesman or a visionary
- •Jobs learned that when the world changes, you have to change with it
- •NeXT reached a first profit of $1 million on about $50 million in revenue
- •WebObjects and the consulting model excited Jobs, and Dell's site went up in a week versus IBM's two-year quote
- 45:28 – 47:39
The New Leader: Ed Catmull on a Humbled Jobs
Senra turns to Ed Catmull's account of working with Jobs, and the humbled leadership that kept people for life. Jobs says the CEO ends up at the bottom of the power hierarchy.
- •Catmull never had a yelling argument with Jobs, presenting facts and waiting
- •Jobs would eventually say 'you're right'
- •People with Jobs by the end of 1995 mostly stayed for the rest of his life
- •Jobs said talented workers can get another job in 10 minutes and he feels he works for them
- 47:39 – 53:31
Apple Buys NeXT and Jobs Returns
Apple's struggles and Garrett Rice's call lead Jobs to pitch against the BeOS founder, whom he beats. Jobs and Gil Amelio negotiate in his kitchen, and Senra closes on the exile giving Jobs better skills and strategies.
- •Apple had no hits and was considering BeOS before Garrett Rice suggested calling Apple
- •Jobs delivered a pragmatic pitch with a demo by Avie Tevanian, while Be's founder brought nothing
- •The price was settled in five minutes in a kitchen
- •Allies warned Amelio that Jobs would end up running the company
- •Senra calls the 12 wilderness years the crux of the book
