Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview (11 May 2012) [VO] [ST-FR] [Ultra HD 4K]

SUMMARY

In a rediscovered 1995 interview hosted by Robert X. Cringely, Steve Jobs reflects on his early fascination with computers, founding Apple, key innovations like the Macintosh, conflicts leading to his departure, and his vision for technology's role in communication and human potential.

STATEMENTS

Steve Jobs first encountered a computer at age 10 or 11 through a time-sharing terminal at NASA Ames Research Center, experiencing the thrill of programming and execution.
Computers in the 1960s were mysterious, seen as large boxes with tape drives or flashing lights, inaccessible to most people.
At Hewlett-Packard, Jobs worked summers starting at age 12 after cold-calling Bill Hewlett for parts, shaping his view of a company that valued employees through perks like coffee and donut breaks.
Jobs attended HP's Palo Alto research labs, where he first saw a desktop computer, the HP 9100, and fell in love with its self-contained design and programming capabilities.
Jobs met Steve Wozniak around age 14, bonding over electronics expertise, and they began collaborative projects.
Inspired by an Esquire article about Captain Crunch, Jobs and Wozniak built blue boxes to make free phone calls by generating specific tones, discovering they could control AT&T's infrastructure.
Their blue box allowed routing calls around the world via satellites and cables, teaching them that small inventions could control vast systems.
The blue boxing experience was pivotal, as it convinced Jobs and Wozniak they could build impactful technology, laying groundwork for Apple.
Necessity drove the shift to personal computers; they built a terminal for free time-sharing access, evolving it into the Apple I.
The Apple I was assembled by hand in garages, taking 40-80 hours each, initially for personal use but shared with friends who lacked skills.
To save time, they created printed circuit boards, funding it by selling Jobs' Volkswagen bus and Wozniak's calculator.
Jobs sold the remaining boards at the Byte Shop, leading to an order for 50 assembled units, marking Apple's entry into business.
They secured parts on 30-day credit from distributors, assembled and sold the units, realizing profit in unsold computers, prompting national distribution efforts.
Mike Markkula joined as an equal partner, providing funding and expertise, enabling the Apple II's development with color graphics and packaged design for non-hobbyists.
The Apple II debuted at the West Coast Computer Faire, stealing the show with advanced graphics and attracting dealers.
At 21, Jobs learned business by questioning conventions, discovering many practices were folklore rather than necessity.
In factories, he eliminated standard cost accounting by improving information systems for real-time cost tracking.
Programming taught Jobs structured thinking, akin to law school, viewing computer science as a liberal art everyone should learn.
Wealth from Apple's IPO—over $100 million by age 25—mattered less than the company's mission and products.
At Xerox PARC in 1979, Jobs was inspired by the graphical user interface, recognizing its inevitability for all computers.
Xerox failed to commercialize innovations due to sales-focused leadership eroding product sensibility in monopolies.
IBM's entry scared Apple, but their open architecture allowed partners to improve the PC, turning it into a success.
Implementing Xerox ideas at Apple required overcoming internal resistance from HP veterans unfamiliar with GUIs and mice.
Jobs outsourced mouse design to David Kelley, achieving a reliable $15 version in 90 days.
Companies falter by prioritizing process over content, as seen in IBM's downfall.
The Lisa project mismatched Apple's culture with its $10,000 price, leading to failure.
After losing Lisa leadership, Jobs formed a small Macintosh team to save Apple, reinventing manufacturing, distribution, and marketing.
Macintosh development involved intense craftsmanship, evolving ideas through trade-offs and daily discoveries.
Jobs motivated the Mac team by assembling A-players who polished ideas like rocks in a tumbler through friction and passion.
Hiring A-players creates self-policing teams that propagate excellence.
Feedback on the Mac was direct, focusing on work quality without ego, prioritizing success over being right.
Apple pioneered desktop publishing with the LaserWriter, partnering with Adobe and Canon despite internal opposition.
Jobs' departure from Apple in 1985 stemmed from conflicts with John Sculley during recession, where survival instincts led to scapegoating.
By 1995, Apple was declining due to stagnation, losing its lead to Microsoft despite heavy R&D.
Microsoft succeeded through opportunism and persistence, boosted by IBM, but lacked taste and cultural depth in products.
NeXT focused on object-oriented software, revolutionizing development speed and quality.
The web represents computing's shift to communication, enabling direct distribution and innovation free from Microsoft dominance.
Jobs viewed computers as the "bicycle of the mind," amplifying human abilities like tools throughout history.
Great products stem from taste, stealing from liberal arts, blending diverse talents like musicians and artists.
Jobs identified as a hippie, drawn to life's deeper meaning beyond materialism, infusing products with spirit.

IDEAS

Early computers were mythical entities, only seen in films as bulky machines with tape drives, evoking mystery and power.
A 10-year-old programming a teletype terminal felt like magic, turning ideas into executed results.
Calling Bill Hewlett at 12 for parts led to a job, revealing how persistence opens doors in tech giants.
HP's employee perks, like donut breaks, demonstrated that valuing people drives company success.
The HP 9100 desktop computer, suitcase-sized with a CRT, ignited passion for self-contained tech.
Blue boxing hacked the phone network by mimicking tones, showing teenagers could command global infrastructure.
Building a device to control billions in telecom taught that small ingenuity trumps vast systems.
Without blue boxing's empowerment, Apple might never have existed, highlighting pivotal youthful experiments.
Assembling Apple I by hand in garages blurred personal hobby and nascent business.
Selling a bus and calculator to fund PCBs showed bootstrapping's raw economics.
The Byte Shop's order for assembled units forced a leap from hobby to manufacturing.
Net-30 credit from distributors was a naive gamble that launched Apple's supply chain.
Apple II targeted software hobbyists over hardware tinkerers, democratizing access.
Markkula's involvement professionalized Apple, blending money with equal partnership.
Debuting Apple II with projection TV graphics wowed the 1977 Faire, proving visuals sell tech.
Questioning business "why"s exposes folklore, like archaic accounting masking poor controls.
Programming mirrors thought processes, training logical rigor like law but for computation.
Becoming a multimillionaire young revealed money enables ideas, not motivates them.
Xerox PARC's GUI demo blinded Jobs to other innovations, yet sparked inevitable revolution.
Monopolies rot innovation by promoting sales over product genius, as in Xerox's "toner heads."
IBM's open model vested partners in success, salvaging a flawed PC launch.
Internal HP hires resisted GUI concepts, forcing Jobs to outsource mouse innovation rapidly.
Process institutionalization confuses means with ends, dooming scaled companies.
Lisa's high price alienated Apple's core market, exemplifying cultural mismatch.
Macintosh as "mission from God" reinvented Apple via automation and affordability.
Product design juggles 5,000 variables, evolving through daily trade-offs.
Team friction polishes rough ideas into gems, like a rock tumbler metaphor.
A-player teams self-select, rejecting mediocrity for excellence propagation.
Direct feedback preserves talent confidence while demanding work standards.
LaserWriter's shared networking overcame price fears, birthing desktop publishing.
Sculley's Pepsi background ill-equipped him for tech's rapid iteration.
Apple's 1995 stagnation erased a 10-year lead, squandering R&D billions.
Microsoft as opportunist lacked original taste, copying without cultural infusion.
Object-oriented tech at NeXT built software 10x faster, infiltrating business weapons.
Web fulfills computing's communication destiny, unowned by any giant.
Humans as tool-builders: bicycle amplifies efficiency beyond natural limits.
Taste guides direction, stealing from arts to enrich tech.
Hippie ethos seeks life's unseen depths, infusing products with transcendent spirit.

INSIGHTS

Youthful curiosity with primitive tech fosters profound innovation by demystifying the unknown.
Persistence in direct outreach, like cold-calling executives, unlocks opportunities in established industries.
Valuing employees through simple gestures builds loyalty and shapes organizational culture.
Hacking systems reveals power imbalances, empowering individuals to challenge giants.
Bootstrapping with personal assets forces creative problem-solving in early ventures.
Targeting non-experts expands markets, shifting from hobbyists to everyday users.
Questioning entrenched practices uncovers inefficiencies, enabling streamlined operations.
Wealth's true value lies in funding long-term visions, not personal gain.
Blinding inspiration from one idea can overlook others, yet drives focused pursuit.
Monopolistic complacency erodes core competencies, favoring sales over creation.
Open ecosystems leverage external interests, accelerating flawed products to dominance.
Resistance from traditionalists necessitates external innovation to realize visions.
Balancing process and content prevents institutional rigidity from stifling creativity.
Affordable reinvention during crises preserves company essence through bold teams.
Craftsmanship bridges ideas to products via iterative trade-offs and discovery.
Passionate collaboration refines raw potential through interpersonal friction.
Elite talent ecosystems sustain high standards via mutual attraction.
Candid critique on work, not people, aligns efforts toward collective goals.
Strategic partnerships, like with Adobe, pivot internal failures to market leadership.
Survival instincts in leadership can scapegoat innovators during downturns.
Stagnation post-founder erodes leads, as vision without execution fades.
Opportunism plus persistence turns alliances into enduring dominance.
Cultural infusion elevates products beyond functionality to inspirational tools.
Revolutionary tools like objects transform development, amplifying software's societal force.
Communication over computation redefines tech's human role.
Liberal arts integration brings depth, making tech a medium for shared feeling.

QUOTES

"It was an incredibly thrilling experience... that you could write a program... and actually this machine would sort of take your idea and execute your idea and give you back some results."
"We could build something ourselves that could control billions of dollars worth of infrastructure in the world."
"If we could make... a printed circuit board... you could build an Apple One in a few hours instead of 40 hours."
"Nobody knows why they do what they do. Nobody thinks about things very deeply in business."
"I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer... because it teaches you how to think."
"It was so obvious... that all computers would work like this someday."
"The product sensibility... gets rotted out by people running these companies who have no conception of a good product."
"Designing a product is keeping 5,000 things in your brain... and fitting them all together."
"When you get enough A players together... they really like working with each other... and it becomes self-policing."
"I don't really care about being right... I just care about success."
"Microsoft's just... McDonald's."
"The computer is going to rank near if not at the top as history unfolds... the most awesome tool that we have ever invented."
"Good artists copy, great artists steal."
"There's something more going on... there's another side of the coin that we don't talk about much."

HABITS

Cold-calling industry leaders for advice and parts to gain entry into professional circles.
Attending weekly research lab meetings to explore cutting-edge technology hands-on.
Collaborating on electronics projects with skilled peers to build expertise.
Scavenging and assembling hardware manually to overcome budget constraints.
Questioning every business practice deeply to uncover inefficiencies and innovate.
Hiring and surrounding oneself with top-tier "A-players" to foster excellence.
Providing direct, work-focused feedback to maintain high standards without ego.
Drawing inspiration from diverse fields like arts and history to inform product design.
Reinventing processes, such as automating factories, during product development.

FACTS

In 1960s, computers were rare; Jobs accessed one via NASA Ames time-sharing at age 10.
HP gave Jobs a summer job at 12 after he called Bill Hewlett directly.
Blue boxes exploited AT&T's signaling flaw, allowing free global calls via voice-band tones.
Apple I assembly took 40-80 hours per unit, hand-wired in garages.
Apple funded initial PCBs by selling Jobs' bus for $1,500 and Wozniak's calculator for $500.
Apple II debuted in 1977 at West Coast Computer Faire, featuring first color graphics on PC.
Xerox PARC demoed GUI in 1979; Jobs saw it as inevitable for all computing.
Macintosh mouse prototyped in 90 days for $15 by David Kelley.
LaserWriter, introduced 1985, made Apple world's top printer revenue company by 1985.
Jobs was worth over $100 million at age 25 after 1980 Apple IPO.
NeXT, founded 1985, specialized in object-oriented software for 10x faster development.
By 1995, Apple spent ~$1 billion on R&D but shipped only 25% evolved Macintosh.
Web commerce projected to shift tens of billions from catalogs to online by 2005.

REFERENCES

Triumph of the Nerds TV series by Robert X. Cringely.
Esquire magazine article on Captain Crunch.
AT&T technical journal from Stanford Linear Accelerator library.
HP 9100 desktop computer.
Apple I and Apple II computers.
Xerox PARC innovations: graphical user interface, object-oriented programming, networked Alto systems.
Macintosh computer and LaserWriter printer.
Adobe software and 19.9% stake.
Canon laser printer engine.
NeXT object-oriented technology.
Scientific American article on locomotion efficiency.
Picasso's saying: "Good artists copy, great artists steal."
Bicycle as metaphor for tool amplification in Apple ad.

HOW TO APPLY

Start with hands-on experimentation using available terminals or kits to grasp core concepts.
Network boldly by contacting experts directly for advice or resources.
Build small prototypes to test ideas, iterating based on real-world feedback.
Collaborate with complementary skilled partners to divide labor effectively.
Fund initial efforts by liquidating personal assets if needed for essential tooling.
Design products for broader accessibility, packaging beyond hobbyist assembly.
Question all processes to eliminate unnecessary complexities like standard costing.
Visit innovative labs to absorb emerging technologies without bias.
Assemble diverse teams blending technical and creative talents.
Prioritize content understanding over rigid processes in scaling operations.
Provide clear, direct feedback focused on output to refine team performance.
Reinvent supply chains, negotiating volume discounts for affordability.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Steve Jobs' journey reveals that blending passion, taste, and bold innovation transforms technology into tools amplifying human potential.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Cultivate curiosity by accessing early tech experiences to spark lifelong innovation.
Persist in outreach to mentors, turning cold calls into career-defining opportunities.
Value team well-being with simple perks to build enduring company loyalty.
Experiment with hacking ethical boundaries to understand system vulnerabilities.
Bootstrap ventures creatively, using personal sacrifices for initial momentum.
Target mass markets by simplifying hardware for non-experts.
Challenge business folklore through relentless "why" questioning.
Learn programming universally as a tool for structured thinking.
Prioritize product vision over financial motives in early success.
Embrace GUI-like interfaces as inevitable for intuitive computing.
Combat monopoly rot by elevating product creators above sales teams.
Leverage open architectures to enlist partners in product improvement.
Outsource resistant innovations to agile external designers.
Focus on content over process to avoid institutional downfall.
Form crisis-response teams for radical reinvention.
Juggle multifaceted design variables with daily iterative polishing.
Hire A-players exclusively to create self-sustaining excellence.
Deliver ego-free feedback emphasizing work quality.
Forge software-hardware partnerships to pioneer applications.
Guard against leadership survivalism during economic contractions.

MEMO

In the dim glow of a rediscovered 1995 VHS tape, Steve Jobs sits across from journalist Robert X. Cringely, his voice steady and eyes alight with the fire of a man who has seen the future. This "lost interview," unearthed from a garage after vanishing in transit, captures Jobs at NeXT, a decade after leaving Apple amid acrimony. He recounts his boyhood epiphany: at 10, typing commands into a teletype at NASA's Ames Research Center, watching his BASIC code come alive. "It was an incredibly thrilling experience," he says, evoking the era when computers were sci-fi relics—vast, whirring boxes glimpsed only in movies. Jobs, then a fossil at 40, traces his path from summer gigs at Hewlett-Packard, where a bold call to Bill Hewlett at age 12 yielded parts and a job, to the garage tinkering that birthed Apple.

The narrative shifts to audacious youth: Jobs and Steve Wozniak, bonded by electronics wizardry, devour an Esquire tale of "Captain Crunch" and his free-phone-call hacks. Rifling through Stanford's technical library, they unearth AT&T's secrets, crafting blue boxes that mimicked network tones. "We could build something ourselves that could control billions of dollars worth of infrastructure," Jobs marvels, recalling calls circling the globe via satellite, even pranking the Vatican as Henry Kissinger. This empowerment—small devices commandeering giants—ignited Apple's spark. Necessity birthed the Apple I: a terminal for free time-sharing, fused with a microprocessor. Hand-assembled in 40-hour marathons, it spread to friends, evolving into printed circuit boards funded by Jobs' sold Volkswagen and Wozniak's calculator. A fateful pitch at the Byte Shop secured 50 orders, thrusting them into assembly and net-30 credit gambles that paid off in 29 days.

As Apple scaled, Mike Markkula's investment professionalized the vision: the Apple II, with color graphics and plastic casing, targeted software dreamers over hardware hackers. Unveiled at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, its projected demos stole the show. Yet success bred scrutiny; Jobs dissected business as "folklore," dismantling inefficient accounting for real-time costing. Programming, he insisted, was a liberal art, teaching thought like law school—essential for all. Wealth amassed swiftly—$100 million by 25—but paled against the mission. Xerox PARC's 1979 demo of graphical interfaces blinded him to networked systems and objects, yet screamed inevitability: "All computers would work like this someday." Xerox squandered it, Jobs laments, as "toner heads" from sales eclipsed innovators in monopolies like IBM, rotting product genius.

Internal wars at Apple echoed this: HP veterans scoffed at mice and fonts, forcing Jobs to outsource a $15 marvel in 90 days. The Lisa flopped at $10,000, mismatched to Apple's ethos. Ousted from leadership, Jobs rallied a "mission from God" for Macintosh—automated factories toured in Japan, volume-priced chips, a $1,000 dream. Design was alchemy: 5,000 ideas juggled, polished by A-players' friction, like rocks in a tumbler yielding gems. "The magic is that process," he says. Desktop publishing exploded via LaserWriter, partnering Adobe despite resistance, crowning Apple printer king until Sculley's era.

Jobs' 1985 exit was raw: recession exposed leadership voids, Sculley's Pepsi instincts scapegoating the visionary. "He destroyed everything I'd spent 10 years working for," Jobs says, voice cracking. By 1995, Apple teetered, its 10-year lead eroded by stagnation despite billion-dollar R&D. Microsoft, boosted by IBM's Saturn V, opportunistically dominated via persistence, yet Jobs decries their tasteless, spiritless products—McDonald's to Apple's enlightenment. At NeXT, object tech promised 10x software speed, arming businesses. The web, unowned by giants, heralded communication's triumph over computation, direct sales reshaping society.

Beneath runs Jobs' humanism: computers as "bicycle of the mind," amplifying innate abilities per a Scientific American insight. Taste—stolen from Picasso, infused by artists and poets—guides the vector. A self-proclaimed hippie from the '70s Bay Area, he seeks life's unseen depths, beyond jobs and garages. "There's something more going on," he muses, channeling that spirit into products users love. In this unfiltered hour, Jobs emerges not as icon, but architect: nudging humanity's tool toward flourishing, forever at the crossroads of art and technology.