Steve Jobs · Entrepreneur

Co-founded Apple in 1976 with Wozniak and Wayne; the Apple II became one of the first mass-market personal computers and took the company public in 1980.

The 1984 Macintosh brought the graphical interface and the mouse to ordinary people, with the iconic “1984” ad.

Returning in 1997 to a near-bankrupt Apple, he cut most of the product line, set a focused strategy, and shipped the iMac to steady the ship.

He then reshaped music with the iPod + iTunes Store, redefined the phone with the iPhone (2007), launched the app economy with the App Store (2008) and created the tablet with the iPad (2010) — making Apple one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Bought Lucasfilm’s graphics group and rebuilt it into Pixar. Toy Story (1995) launched the fully computer-animated feature, followed by hit after hit (A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles).

Pixar joined Disney in 2006 (~$7.4B), making Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder and a board director.

Founded NeXT after leaving Apple, building high-end workstations for research and education; its NeXTSTEP OS led the field in object-oriented design and developer experience (the World Wide Web was born on a NeXT machine).

Apple acquired NeXT (~$400M) in 1996; NeXTSTEP became the foundation of modern macOS / iOS and brought Jobs back to Apple.

The first mass-market computer with a graphical interface; established the mouse-and-windows paradigm.

“1,000 songs in your pocket” plus a legal download store — reshaped the music industry.

Multi-touch and a software keyboard redefined the smartphone and the mobile internet.

Created mobile app distribution and the developer economy.

Created the modern tablet category between phone and computer.

Reinvented buying a computer around the experience — the Genius Bar and stores you want to walk into.

Left after one semester, then dropped in on classes that interested him — the calligraphy class later shaped the Macintosh’s typography.