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The guy knowingly, intentionally tried to deceive Steve. That was the explicit intent, and Steve picked up on it and didn't like it. How is that Steve abusing s

by simonh 5y ago

The guy knowingly, intentionally tried to deceive Steve. That was the explicit intent, and Steve picked up on it and didn't like it. How is that Steve abusing someone? That's some pretty impressive reality distortion you've got going on there. To be clear it took a lot of stones for this guy to tell his story and clarify what his intent was. Deep respect.

gary17the 5y ago
So the guy panicked and bluffed during business negotiations that he wasn't really trained for - so what? Could happen to anyone under pressure and facing disappointment of an unexpectedly low offer. Jobs, supposedly an experienced business professional, could have just coldly smiled, Warren Buffet -style, and could have sent the rookie on his way with a 2/3 offer just to make a point and educate him. Instead, Jobs started calling the poor guy a liar in front of his co-founders, stormed out of the meeting and, in the end, screwed every single person in the entire startup by shamelessly copying their product. To me, it seems like behavior of a Yet Another (Proverbial) Silicon Valley Narcissistic A-hole (YAPSVNA).
- analognoise 5y ago
  Yeah, who would praise somebody so undeveloped emotionally? What a small, small man. Then you read about how he treated his family and his employees - he was just a tiny thing of a human being. It's sad - like a self-contained parable about how to not live your life.
- _hilro 5y ago
  The more people that aggressively call out con-artists and bullshitters, the better. He learned a lesson that day and there was subsequently less shittery in the world from then on than there would have been. Win win for decent humans.
- simonh 5y ago
  Let's suppose the story was reversed. It was Steve Jobs who tried to deceive someone, and the negotiator on the other side detected it and called bullshit on it. Would you be arguing that Steve should have been given the benefit of the doubt and it wasn't a big deal?
- kobalsky 5y ago
  it was a 100M bluff in front of the CEO of one of the most important companies on earth if you don’t pay for inexperience there I don’t know where you will
smoldesu 5y ago
Nobody tried to deceive anyone, Steve threw a temper tantrum when someone wouldn't give him their lifelong work for free, so he responded by playing "good cop bad cop" during their negotiations and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability. Frame it however you want, but that kind of mental gymnastics doesn't work on a forum of jaded tech enthusiasts who watched Woz get berated for building a better product.
- simonh 5y ago
  This had already been posted several times on this thread, before you posted this comment, but apparently it needs posting again: https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou-kcurB8RUUfgvZC1KHRw&s=19 https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou...
  - smoldesu 5y ago
    > and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability.

by simonh 5y ago

gary17the 5y ago

So the guy panicked and bluffed during business negotiations that he wasn't really trained for - so what? Could happen to anyone under pressure and facing disappointment of an unexpectedly low offer. Jobs, supposedly an experienced business professional, could have just coldly smiled, Warren Buffet -style, and could have sent the rookie on his way with a 2/3 offer just to make a point and educate him. Instead, Jobs started calling the poor guy a liar in front of his co-founders, stormed out of the meeting and, in the end, screwed every single person in the entire startup by shamelessly copying their product. To me, it seems like behavior of a Yet Another (Proverbial) Silicon Valley Narcissistic A-hole (YAPSVNA).

analognoise 5y ago
Yeah, who would praise somebody so undeveloped emotionally? What a small, small man. Then you read about how he treated his family and his employees - he was just a tiny thing of a human being. It's sad - like a self-contained parable about how to not live your life.
_hilro 5y ago
The more people that aggressively call out con-artists and bullshitters, the better. He learned a lesson that day and there was subsequently less shittery in the world from then on than there would have been. Win win for decent humans.
simonh 5y ago
Let's suppose the story was reversed. It was Steve Jobs who tried to deceive someone, and the negotiator on the other side detected it and called bullshit on it. Would you be arguing that Steve should have been given the benefit of the doubt and it wasn't a big deal?
kobalsky 5y ago
it was a 100M bluff in front of the CEO of one of the most important companies on earth if you don’t pay for inexperience there I don’t know where you will

smoldesu 5y ago

Nobody tried to deceive anyone, Steve threw a temper tantrum when someone wouldn't give him their lifelong work for free, so he responded by playing "good cop bad cop" during their negotiations and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability. Frame it however you want, but that kind of mental gymnastics doesn't work on a forum of jaded tech enthusiasts who watched Woz get berated for building a better product.

simonh 5y ago
This had already been posted several times on this thread, before you posted this comment, but apparently it needs posting again: https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou-kcurB8RUUfgvZC1KHRw&s=19 https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou...
- smoldesu 5y ago
  > and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability.