The character arc of Steve Jobs
Born 24 February 1955 in San Francisco. Died 5 October 2011 in Palo Alto. Between the two sit a garage, the Macintosh, a boardroom that voted him out of his own company at thirty, twelve years in the wilderness, and a return that put a computer in every pocket. The line below draws that whole life in order, every milestone, setback and crossroads.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Steve Jobs?
Fired at thirty, and it set him free.
The company he started in his parents' garage grew into the most valuable of its age, and in 1985 it showed him the door. He was thirty. He said later that being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to him: the heaviness of success was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again.
The wilderness years looked like failure from outside. NeXT sold few computers; Pixar burned money for a decade. But NeXT built the software Apple would come home to, and Pixar's Toy Story became the first fully computer animated feature ever released. When Apple, near bankruptcy, bought NeXT in 1996, the exile walked back in the door carrying exactly what the company needed.
His line is worth reading for the middle, not the ends. The deepest trough on it, the public firing, sits directly before the most creative stretch of his life, by his own account. The comeback was not luck: it was twelve years of work done in the dark, waiting for the door to reopen.
The moments
Steve Jobs's timeline.
The 1950s
Adopted by Paul and Clara
Everyday. Paul Jobs taught him that the back of a fence deserves the same care as the front.
The 1970s
Dropped out of Reed
Setback. Then stayed on to sit in on calligraphy, which later shaped the type on every Mac.
Founded Apple in the garage
Milestone, and it changed his direction. With Steve Wozniak, on April Fools' Day, selling a computer as a bare board.
The 1980s
Apple went public
Milestone. The biggest offering since Ford in 1956; he was twenty five.
Launched the Macintosh
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The first computer most people could love rather than operate.
Forced out of Apple
Setback, and it changed everything. The board sided against him in his own company. He sold his shares and kept one.
Fight for Apple, or start again
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: start again from zero, taken, or stay and fight the board. He later called being fired the best thing that could have happened to him.
Started NeXT from zero
Milestone. Five colleagues, a black cube, and standards nobody could meet, including the market.
Bought Pixar from Lucasfilm
Milestone. A struggling hardware group with a storytelling heart, for five million dollars.
The 1990s
Married Laurene Powell
Everyday. In Yosemite, in the snow.
Toy Story proved Pixar right
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The first fully computer animated feature, and the year's biggest film.
Bring NeXT home to Apple
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go back, taken, or stay independent. The exile went home carrying exactly what the company needed.
Apple bought NeXT
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The company that fired him paid four hundred million dollars for his way home.
Came back to lead Apple
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Ninety days from bankruptcy, by his own estimate. He cut the line to four products.
The 2000s
Introduced the iPod
Milestone. A thousand songs in your pocket, and the first step of the comeback's second act.
A rare cancer was found
Setback. He worked for eight more years, and gave the Stanford speech in the middle of them.
Introduced the iPhone
Milestone, and it changed everything. Three products in one, he said, and then the world reorganised itself around it.
The line ends 5 Oct 2011, in Palo Alto. What it set moving has not ended: the tools he insisted could be beautiful are in a billion pockets, and every builder who hears stay hungry, stay foolish is picking the line up where it paused.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
His took fifty six years, one garage and one long exile. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, 2011.
- His Stanford University commencement address, 12 June 2005.
- David A. Price, The Pixar Touch, 2008.
- Apple press releases and keynote records, 1996 to 2007.
- The SEC record of the December 1980 public offering.