Geoffrey Cain

He decided, you know, going back to what he said about being the great man of history, altering the future.

He wanted to build not just a computer for education, but a computer that was going to change the world, that was literally just going to upend technology as we know it.

But the problem was that it was unrealistic because the window to start a new computer hardware company was closing very quickly.

There were two platforms.

There was the Apple and there was the IBM, which was adopting Windows.

And that's like what we use today now.

Steve thought that he could go in and he could create the third platform that was going to just upend, make this new world-changing earthquake in technology.

And that's not what happened.

He added this optical drive that was the most advanced for its time.

It didn't work.

He added all kinds of gizmos and gadgets trying to make this thing beautiful.

He chose paint.

The paint was super high-end, and so the paint itself actually...

caused the price to go up.

One paint job was $50 for a cube, and that's what they planned for making the entire computer itself, about a $50 cost.

There was so much where he went wrong, and it's just a great example of getting carried away with your vision, but not thinking about what the customer needs from you.

Right, well, it's double-edged.

It's that two-sided coin.

I think that's what you just said.

It was the perfectionist Steve who knew how to make every business card with the perfect paper and the right color, and he would throw tantrums if the yellow was not the exact shade of yellow he wanted.