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The Knowledge Project

The Knowledge Project

The 12 Years that Changed Steve Jobs

Sep 1, 2026 · 1h 4m

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We all know the Steve Jobs who came back in the late 1990s and saved Apple from becoming a footnote. And we've all heard the story of how, in 1985, he was pushed out of the company he'd created. What we don't know is what happened in between. Geoffrey Cain spent years reconstructing the decade Jobs spent outside Apple. NeXT spent years losing money. His co-founders left. His investors lost faith. His fortune nearly disappeared. At one point, he was a weekend away from shutting the company down. Somewhere in those failures, Jobs learned how to become the leader Apple would eventually need. This is Steve Jobs before he became Steve Jobs. ------ Chapters: (0:51) Why Steve Jobs Was Pushed Out…