How Did One Whiteboard Session Create The World’s Largest Company? By @JeremyWaite

1996  •  Apple  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy  

•  Gil  Amelio  was  CEO  

•  Apple  was  licensing  it’s  OS  

•  They  were  constantly  adding  new  product  lines  

Apple  Board  Discussion  June  1997  

Apple  Board  Discussion  June  1997    a)  If  we  keep  Gill  as  CEO  

there’s  a  10%  chance  we’ll  avoid  bankruptcy  

Apple  Board  Discussion  June  1997    a)  If  we  keep  Gill  as  CEO  

there’s  a  10%  chance  we’ll  avoid  bankruptcy  

b)  If  we  fire  Gil  and  Steve  comes  back,  we  have  a  60%  chance  of  survival  

Apple  Board  Discussion  June  1997    a)  If  we  keep  Gill  as  CEO  

there’s  a  10%  chance  we’ll  avoid  bankruptcy  

b)  If  we  fire  Gil  and  Steve  comes  back,  we  have  a  60%  chance  of  survival  

c)  If  we  fire  Gil  and  Steve  doesn’t  come  back,  we  have  a  40%  chance  of  survival  

1997    Steve  agrees  to  return  to  Apple  as  an  adviser  to  the  board  unDl  they  find  a  new  CEO  

Apple  were  due  to  ship  1  million  StyleWriter  printers  in  1997  

Apple  were  due  to  ship  1  million  StyleWriter  printers  in  1997…  

…  but  they  didn’t  expect  to  make  any  money  from  them.  

The  Newton  was  a  good  device…      With  a  stylus…  

 Using  hand-­‐wriDng  technology  that    almost  worked…    

The  Newton  was  a  good  device…      With  a  stylus…  

 Using  hand-­‐wriDng  technology  that    almost  worked…      But  no-­‐one    bought  one!  

   

By  the  early  1990’s  Apple  product  lines  exploded  

The first thing Steve did was conduct a product

review to try to find out why the company wasn’t working.

•  By  1996  Apple  had  too  many  products  •  Nobody  understood  the  difference  between  them  •  The  world’s  most  emoJonal  brand  wasn’t  emoJonal  •  “No  magic”  -­‐  even  the  product  names  were  numbers  

“The products suck… There’s no SEX in them anymore”.        Steve  Jobs  ~  July  1997  

In  the  middle  of  the  product  review  meeDng,  Steve  told  everyone  to  stop  and  started  to  explain  his  vision  of  the  future.    He  drew  two  lines  on  the  whiteboard  and  said,  

                           “this is all we need”...  

Consumer

Pro

Desktop Portable

Consumer

Pro

Desktop Portable

Consumer

Pro

Desktop Portable

Consumer

Pro

Desktop Portable

Consumer

Pro

Desktop Portable

Consumer

Pro

Desktop Portable

Before  Steve  

AWer  Steve  

Apple  almost  declared  bankruptcy  in  1996.    

*  According  to  Interbrand  100  Report  2013  

Apple  almost  declared  bankruptcy  in  1996.    They  are  now  the  World’s  largest  brand  -­‐  

Valued  at  over  $98.3bn.    

“My  gut  was  that  Apple  had  some  really  good  technology,  but  it  was  fucked  up  by  mismanagement”.    Steve  Jobs  1997      

“By  shu]ng  down  the  Newton,  I  freed  up  some  good  engineers  who  could  work  on  new  mobile  devices”.      Those  engineers  soon  started  work  on  “Project  Purple”…  

Project  Purple  

On  January  9th,  2007  Steve  announced  the  launch  of  the  iPhone.  

On  January  9th,  2007  Steve  announced  the  launch  of  the  iPhone.  

Stylus  not  included  

Apple  have  now  sold  over  300m  iPhones  

Apple  have  now  sold  over  300m  iPhones  

...  and  there  are  now  more  mobile  phones  in  the  world  than  tooth  brushes.  

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