Steve Jobs Entrepreneurial story

• Profile 

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California to Joanne Simpson and a Syrian father. Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California then adopted him. In 1972, Jobs graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. One semester later, he had dropped out, later taking up the study of philosophy and foreign cultures.


Steve Jobs had a deep-seated interest in technology, so he took up a job at Atari Inc, then a leading manufacturer of video games. He struck a friendship with fellow designer Steve Wozniak and attended meetings of the “ Home-brew Computer Club” with him.

After saving up some money, Jobs took off for India in the search of enlightenment. Once he returned, he convinced Wozniak to quit his job at Hewlett Packard to join him in his venture that concerned personal computers. They sold items like scientific calculators to raise the seed capital.

In 1976, Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computer in the Jobs family garage. The first personal computer was sold for $666.66. By 1980, Apple had already released three improved versions of the personal computer. It had a wildly successful IPO, which made both founders millionaires many times over.

A tiff with the Apple’s Board of Directors and John Scully led to Jobs’ resignation. Steve Jobs decided that he wanted to change the hardware industry. The company was called NeXTStep, which produced the NeXT Computer. The machine was a commercial washout but helped with future work in object-oriented programming, PostScript, and magneto-optical devices. Jobs returned to his original company after Apple acquired NeXT in 1996.

Steve Jobs also started Pixar, which has produced multiple blockbuster films, including Toy Story (1995) A Bug’s Life (1998) Toy Story 2 (1999) Monsters, Inc. (2001)Finding Nemo (2003)and The Incredibles (2004).

In 2004, Jobs was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his pancreas, which was successfully treated.

Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011 and subsequently assumed the role of Chairman of the Board.

• Steve Jobs success

Steve Jobs' impact on our life cannot be overestimated. Jobs innovations have likely touched nearly every aspect computers, movies, music and mobile. As a communications coach, we learned from Jobs that a presentation can, indeed, inspire. For entrepreneurs, Jobs' greatest legacy is the set of principles that drove his success.

Jobs once said, "People with passion can change the world for the better." Asked about the advice he would offer would be entrepreneurs, he said, I would  get a job as a busboy or something until I figured out what I was really passionate about." That's how much it meant to him. Passion is everything.

After Apple's founding, Jobs became a symbol of his company and industry. When Time named the computer as the 1982 "Machine of the Year", the magazine published a long profile of Jobs as "the most famous maestro of the micro.

In August 2009, Jobs was selected as the most admired entrepreneur among teenagers in a survey by Junior Achievement, having previously been named Entrepreneur of the Decade 20 years earlier in 1989, by Inc. magazine.On November 5, 2009, Jobs was named the CEO of the decade by Fortune magazine.

In November 2010, Jobs was ranked No.17 on Forbes: The World's Most Powerful People. In December 2010, the Financial Times named Jobs its person of the year for 2010.

In March 2012, global business magazine Fortune named Steve Jobs the "greatest entrepreneur of our time", describing him as "brilliant, visionary, inspiring", and "the quintessential entrepreneur of our generation.

• Wealth

Although Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple,Jobs held 5.426 million Apple shares worth $2.1 billion, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (which he received in exchange for Disney's acquisition of Pixar) worth $4.4 billion. Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he was paid by Apple was based on attending one meeting for 50 cents while the other 50 cents was based on his performance.Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd-wealthiest American.