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  • October 2008 (Revised February 2011)
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Apple's Core

By: Noam T. Wasserman
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:8
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Abstract

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are best friends who enjoy pulling pranks together and talking about electronics. After several small collaborations, Jobs pitches Wozniak on starting a company together to sell computers based on Wozniak's design for a personal computer. Wozniak faces decisions about whether to quit the job he loves at Hewlett-Packard to join Apple Computer, how to define his role within Apple, whether to take on Jobs as his co-founder, whether to accept a third co-founder proposed by Jobs, and how to split equity with his co-founders. Early on, they add an outside investor who changes the company's trajectory and who brings in a new chief executive. Later, tensions rise between the two founders as their strategic visions diverge and as the company grows. Wozniak has now learned some disturbing news about his co-founder and has to decide whether that news will affect his continuing collaboration with Jobs.

Keywords

Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Managerial Roles; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict Management

Citation

Wasserman, Noam T. "Apple's Core." Harvard Business School Case 809-063, October 2008. (Revised February 2011.)
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Related Work

    • April 2009
    • Faculty Research

    Apple's Core (TN)

    By: Noam T. Wasserman and Lisa Brem
Related Work
  • Apple's Core (TN) By: Noam T. Wasserman and Lisa Brem
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