5 Ways Steve Jobs Almost Destroyed Apple Before His Comeback

By Linda Park | Editor, Tech | San Francisco

Steve Jobs is remembered as the visionary who saved Apple from near-bankruptcy in 1997. But before his triumphant return, the co-founder’s unchecked perfectionism, refusal to compromise, and market misjudgments nearly destroyed the company he helped build. While his instincts revolutionized technology, they also created a toxic culture that paralyzed Apple during its darkest years. Here are five critical missteps that put the company on the brink—and how Jobs later learned from them.

Jobs’ ouster in May 1985 followed a brutal boardroom power struggle with CEO John Sculley, a former Pepsi executive hired to professionalize Apple. After losing, Jobs was exiled to a small office across the street from Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, which he and his team dubbed “Siberia.” Corporate reports ceased, executives ignored his calls, and the isolation left him professionally adrift. Yet this exile became a turning point: the failures of his next decade at NeXT would later provide the tools to rebuild Apple.

The irony? The same traits that made Jobs a genius—his relentless pursuit of perfection, his refusal to delegate, and his disdain for compromise—also nearly bankrupted the company. By the time he returned in 1997, Apple had lost $1 billion in 1996, its market share had plummeted, and it was months from insolvency. Jobs’ comeback required unlearning the very behaviors that had once defined him.

1. He Made Himself the Center of Every Decision—and Paralyzed Apple

By early 1985, Apple had fractured into warring factions. Jobs, as chairman, openly undermined Sculley, telling executives, “I am the board.” His refusal to delegate created chaos: no one knew who was truly in charge. Sculley’s supporters flooded the HR department with complaints, while Macintosh sales declined as IBM clones ate market share. The infighting culminated in Apple’s first-ever quarterly loss and 1,200 layoffs—a staggering 10% of its workforce.

The civil war cost Apple months of progress. By the time the board sided with Sculley and stripped Jobs of his authority, the damage was done. That autumn, Jobs left to found NeXT, where he repeated the same pattern. He rushed the NeXT Cube to market in October 1988 with an unfinished operating system and a price tag double what customers could afford. Sales were dismal—fewer than 50 units per month—and NeXT soon laid off half its workforce, abandoning hardware entirely.

Lesson learned: When a founder becomes the sole voice in the room, the company has no fallback when that voice is wrong. Jobs later admitted, “Sometimes I go for ‘best’ when I should go for ‘better,’ and end up going nowhere or backwards.”

2. He Built for His Own Taste Instead of the Market

The Macintosh’s 1984 launch was a cultural phenomenon. Its Super Bowl ad, “1984,” and the slogan “A computer for the rest of us” made it iconic. But the machine itself was flawed: it lacked a hard drive, had limited functionality, and cost $2,495—equivalent to nearly $8,000 today. While early adopters loved it, the price tag killed mass-market appeal. There was no second wave of buyers.

The commercial disappointment fueled the power struggle with Sculley, leading to Jobs’ ouster. For the next 12 years, Apple drifted without a clear strategy. NeXT’s Cube suffered the same fate: it was a beautiful but impractical machine, priced far above its target market. Jobs’ obsession with aesthetics over pragmatism had nearly sunk Apple twice.

Lesson learned: Vision without market validation is just arrogance. Jobs’ later success with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad came from balancing innovation with customer needs—a lesson he absorbed after years of failure.

3. He Shipped Before Products Were Ready—and Blamed His Team

In early 1985, Jobs pushed Apple to release the Macintosh Office, a corporate-focused version of the Mac. Its core technology—a file-sharing device—was delayed and untested. The product flopped, accelerating Apple’s crisis. At NeXT, he repeated the mistake: after the Cube’s launch, co-founder Dan’l Lewin presented Jobs with a list of critical flaws. Instead of addressing them, Jobs blamed the sales team. Lewin pushed back: “We’re so far away from selling anybody anything right now. You don’t want to hear it, but What we have is not a problem in sales.” Jobs demoted Lewin and announced the move company-wide via email.

The pattern was clear: Jobs prioritized shipping over quality, then scapegoated his team when failures ensued. This culture of blame contributed to NeXT’s collapse and Apple’s near-death spiral in the 1990s.

Lesson learned: Accountability starts at the top. By 1997, Jobs had transformed his management style, listening to lieutenants in Monday morning meetings and implementing their advice—a stark contrast to his earlier tyranny.

4. He Couldn’t Kill What Wasn’t Working

When Gil Amelio took over as Apple’s CEO in 1996, engineers told him, “Steve Jobs can get away with whatever he wants, so I’m going to do whatever I want.” The company was a mess: it had released 70+ products in a single year, including a $6,500 laptop that caught fire and required a recall. Apple had also poured $500 million into Copland, a new operating system that never shipped. No one could decide when to cut losses.

Jobs had made the same mistake at NeXT, clinging to the Cube hardware business long after advisors urged him to pivot. But upon returning to Apple, he did the opposite: he killed 70% of the product portfolio, focusing on a handful of core products. The visionary who once refused to abandon the Cube had learned that survival sometimes means letting go of what you love.

Lesson learned: Pivoting isn’t failure—it’s survival. Jobs’ ability to ruthlessly prune Apple’s lineup became the foundation for its 21st-century dominance.

5. He Treated the People He Needed as Obstacles

Jobs’ abrasive personality alienated even his biggest allies. At Apple, his Super Bowl 1985 ad, “Lemmings,” depicted blindfolded businesspeople marching off a cliff—a thinly veiled insult to corporate customers. At NeXT, he insulted distribution partners, calling their stores “ugly,” and ignored meetings arranged by his largest investor, Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire.

Perot delivered the lesson himself. At a San Francisco dinner with NeXT executives and customers, he asked all clients to stand. Then, turning to Jobs and the remaining seated executives: “Now, everybody who’s sitting down, applaud these people who are standing up, because that’s why we’re here.” The message was clear: customers came first.

It took Jobs a decade to absorb this lesson. By 1997, he had softened his approach, delegating more and listening to his team. His Monday morning meetings became legendary for their collaborative problem-solving—a far cry from his earlier tyranny.

Lesson learned: Even geniuses need a team. Jobs’ humility in his later years proved that the most successful leaders know when to step back.

Jobs’ 1997 return to Apple marked the beginning of a new era—but his early failures remain a cautionary tale for founders. Today, Apple’s dominance proves that even the greatest visionaries must adapt. For entrepreneurs and leaders, the lesson is clear: innovation without execution is just fantasy.