(‘Thanks’ to Chris Horner for passing the this story along)
This is an excellent article on creative thinking in times of crisis. An entrepreneur facing an ultimatum from Steve Jobs negotiates a deal to sell her product to Jobs’ new tech company, NeXT.
Some of the lessons learned are invaluable.
On the appointed day, after waiting in the lobby for 45 minutes (this, I would come to learn, was par for the course for meetings with Steve), I was called up to Steve’s cubicle. I remember to this day how completely nervous I felt. But I had my contract in hand and I knew my numbers cold.
Shortly into my pitch, Steve took the contract from me and scanned down to the key term, the royalty rate. I had pitched 15%, our standard. Steve pointed at it and said,
“15%? That is ridiculous. I want 50%.”
I was stunned. There was no way I could run my business giving him 50% of my product revenues. I started to defend myself, stammering about the economics of my side of the business. He tore up the contract and handed me the pieces. “Come back at 50%, or don’t come back,” he said.
Read the full article here:
http://heidiroizen.tumblr.com/post/80368150370/what-i-learned-negotiating-with-steve-jobs
