Whipsaw

The First Time I Met Steve Jobs…

By: Austin Carr

In Gay Talese’s famous Esquire profile of Frank Sinatra, he describes the lasting impact of a brief interaction between Sinatra and screenwriter Harlan Ellison. “The whole thing had lasted only about three minutes,” Talese wrote of their exchange. “And three minutes after it was over, Frank Sinatra had probably forgotten about it for the rest of his life–as Ellison will probably remember it for the rest of his life: he had had, as hundreds of others before him, at an unexpected moment between darkness and dawn, a scene with Sinatra.”

The same could be said of Steve Jobs and those fortunate enough to have experienced their own scene with the recently resigned Apple CEO. Many who have met Jobs describe their encounters, however brief or inconsequential, as magical–life altering, even. A brush with Jobs can be overwhelming: as inspiring as a handshake from Neil Armstrong, as intimidating as a confrontation with Mike Tyson, as intoxicating as a tour from Willy Wonka. “So I just met Steve Jobs,” recalled one New Yorker last year. “All I could muster is, ‘I love Apple.’”

A similar sentiment poured out across the web this week, as news of Jobs’s retirement made the rounds. On Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, Facebook, fans and colleagues alike described some of their most memorable moments with Apple’s chief executive and visionary. Below, a collection of the better anecdotes out there, along with some stories sent to us directly, that show just how influential Jobs has been.

Dan Harden, president, Whipsaw Inc.:

I worked with Steve Jobs in 1989/90 when I was at Frog Design consulting to NeXT Computer where he was CEO. I would present concepts to him and his team every Friday afternoon at 2pm. I often felt on edge before meeting him because he was always cantankerous, intense, razor sharp, and uber-confident, which many misread as arrogance. Most NeXT employees were afraid of him but we designers liked him. He was passionate, analytical, creative, and critical…like us. He loved design so I think he cut us a little slack. Steve had an uncanny ability to see right through a concept and if there was any weakness he would find it and improve it. His genius was true and so unsubtle.

Several years later in 1996 I was working with Larry Ellison, CEO Oracle, on the then futuristic “Network Computer” or N/C. He preferred working secretly one on one, and wanted all meetings to be at his grand Japanese style house in Atherton, away from the prying eyes of his staff and the press. Our final presentation was to be at Larry’s house on March 19, and dinner was going to be served. I pulled into Larry’s driveway and noticed a silver Mercedes sedan with the license plate “PIXAR.” It was Steve Job’s car. Larry had invited his buddy Steve over for dinner and an N/C design show and tell. My pulse raced. Larry alone was difficult enough; now I had the two biggest and baddest titans of Silicon Valley to present to.

After a cordial meal I unveiled five computer models. Steve quickly challenged every assumption we had made about the future of computing. “The network can’t handle the speeds or data throughput and the designs are too big and clunky…but keep going because anything is better than Microsoft” he said. Larry and Steve discussed and argued about the future of computing for another hour while I humbly inserted my design angle at the right cues. I wish I had recorded the conversation because everything Steve and Larry had predicted pretty much came true. At one point in my presentation Larry dropped one of the models, shattering it dramatically into a dozen parts. I was stunned but neither Steve or Larry said anything at all…they just kept talking (I needed CPR). I always found that curious. I guess they were too big to worry about a broken model.

The evening concluded with Larry strongly encouraging Steve to rejoin Apple as CEO. Nine months later NeXT was purchased by Apple; Pixar’s Toy Story became a huge box office hit, and the rest is history.

When I left Larry’s house that night I clearly remember saying to Andy Laursen of Oracle (the fourth person that was there that night), “Wow that was pretty cool evening, wasn’t it?”