In 1995, Steve Jobs was on the cusp of middle age — 40 years old — when he sat down for an extensive and revealing one-on-one interview by the Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation as part of an oral history project. The Foundation also produced the Computerworld Honors Program, whose executive director, Daniel Morrow, conducted this interview.
At that point in his life, Jobs was already a tech superstar. He had founded Apple Computer, been forced out of his own company, started another computer venture, NeXT Inc., and launched Pixar — which would soon release Toy Story. In other words, Jobs’ departure from Apple more than a decade earlier had done little to slow his entrepreneurial drive.
When Jobs sat down for this interview, which was recorded on videotape, his return to Apple was still two years away — and his once and future company was struggling to remain relevant. The products that would turn Apple around in the first decade of the 21st century — Mac OS X, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the iTunes store — did not exist.
Steve Jobs in 1995
Part 1: An interview with Steve Jobs
Part 2: Early days of school, reaction to authority
Part 3: Thoughts on computers and education
Part 4: School vouchers; comparing schools to cars
Part 5: Books about Steve Jobs; ‘Let’s throw darts’
Part 6: Jobs’ experience at Apple (the first time)
Part 7: Why artists were attracted to computing
Part 8: The decline of Apple (circa 1995)
Part 9: Apple’s early adventures in politics
Part 10: How Macs infiltrated business; the birth of NeXT Computer
Part 11: NeXTStep and object-oriented computing
Part 12: Steve Jobs on the impact of the Internet
Part 13: Steve Jobs on Pixar
Part 14: Why life needs death (and startups)
Part 15: Advice for entrepreneurs
Part 16: Final thoughts; Impact of Silicon Valley
The complete interview, which lasted about 75 minutes, has been divided here into 16 different segments to make it easier for viewers to learn more about Jobs, his life and his views. Below each video is a written excerpt highlighting part of the interview. Jobs talked about everything from his childhood in California — the area that later came to be known as Silicon Valley “was really paradise” — to his early days at Apple, the iconic 1984 Mac TV ad, his plans for NeXT and Pixar, and his fears for Apple’s future.
Not surprisingly, Jobs offered some not-so-kind observations about John Sculley, the man who had forced him out at Apple. He also showed himself to be prescient with his predictions about the Internet and about how disruptive it would prove to be. And he had advice for would-be entrepreneurs that in many ways seemed to open a window into his own world and how he became so successful.
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the nonsuccessful ones is pure perseverance,” he said. “It’s pretty much an 18-hour-day job, seven days a week for a while. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’re going to give it up. So you’ve got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about, otherwise you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through.”
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Source: Computerworld
Good stuff. Lot of quotes from this interview that I’ve read or heard over the years. I like that he was wearing broken glasses; kind of a “yeah they’re broken… so f’in what?!?” moment (unless that’s just an illusion of the video; they look broken to me)…
Just before Toy Story came out Steve was probably at his lowest point, and feeling more like a washed up failure at 40 than a tech superstar. Toy Story marked the end of the financial bleeding at Pixar and was his first success since 1984. It’s interesting to see him mention correcting a great wrong. He was able to see himself vindicated over Scully and the Apple board, saw Dell come to eat his flippant comment, but unfortunately he won’t be here to see Bill Gates regret the words “why is he doing this (back at Apple)? Doesn’t he know he can’t win?”
Not true, in 1995 Jobs was happily married and, I believe, with two young children. The mid 90s were the years that he settled back into domestic family life and, being financially well off, he could simply enjoy life in the Valley. He still thought a lot about Apple–he and his buddy Larry Ellison worked out a plan to buy out Apple right around this time as well.
I think these were the years he was ‘charging his batteries’, digesting his hard-won experience at NeXT, and planning his next moves.
Really? Apple is worth more and is more profitable than Microsoft now, people line up for Apple products…I think he won already.
I would like to see the whole entire interview without having to go through multiple pages of a website, anyone know where to download it from?
How un-aprospo, viewing requires Flash. LOL.
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the nonsuccessful ones is pure perseverance,” he said. “It’s pretty much an 18-hour-day job, seven days a week for a while. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’re going to give it up. So you’ve got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about, otherwise you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through.” pure conviction.