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Wozniak Says He Built Apple After Five HP Rejections, Not to Make Money
ReWozniak Says He Built Apple After Five HP Rejections, Not to Make Money
Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak told Grand Valley State University graduates that he started the company to win the admiration of fellow engineers, not to get rich, and that his weekly paycheck was once just $50.
Steve Wozniak, who cofounded Apple with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne in 1976, says the company that became one of the world's most valuable businesses was never meant to be a money-making venture. In a commencement address at Grand Valley State University, Wozniak said his only goal was to bring his personal computer idea to life and earn the respect of other engineers.
«When you try things, they don't have to be for obvious money,» Wozniak said. «When we started Apple, did I want to make money? Start a company? Start an industry? No.» What he wanted, he explained, was for other engineers to look at his designs and say, «Whoa,» and appreciate «how did he come up with these things?»
Before Apple existed, Wozniak worked at Hewlett-Packard after taking a break from his studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He hoped to spend his career there. He pitched his personal computer idea to HP five separate times, and the company turned him down each time. Only then did he warm to Jobs' suggestion that they start their own venture, a decision that laid the groundwork for Apple.
Wozniak's stake in the company could have made him extraordinarily wealthy. When Apple was founded, he and Jobs each received a 45% share, while Wayne received 10% and famously sold it back days later. Wozniak gradually sold much of his own stock in the 1980s, giving some shares to early employees who had missed out on equity and donating money to charity. Had he held onto his original ownership, his fortune could theoretically have made him the world's first trillionaire.
His approach reflects a long-standing skepticism toward wealth accumulation. Wozniak said he once spent nights typing college term papers for strangers for five cents, and tutored students, not because it paid well but because he enjoyed it. «If you do something you love — and I love typing — you don't need to prove it by charging a huge amount of money,» he said. He has also said he does not invest because he did not want to be near money, which he believed could corrupt his values.
Wozniak stepped back from full-time involvement at Apple in 1985, but he remained on the payroll for years afterward. «I'm still an Apple employee — the only person who's received a paycheck every week since we started the company,» he said in a 2020 podcast interview, adding that after savings and taxes he received «$50 a week or something» into his bank account.
Education remained central to his life. Wozniak grew up in California with two dream careers: becoming an electrical engineer like his father and teaching fifth grade. Twelve years after cofounding Apple, he reenrolled at UC Berkeley to finish the degree he had left unfinished. He graduated at age 35 under an alias to avoid attention. «My Berkeley diploma says Rocky Raccoon Clark,» he said. He later spent a decade teaching elementary and middle school students about computing.
His advice to graduates worried about finding the perfect career immediately was to stay flexible. «It doesn't even have to be working in the job you want to do for the rest of your life,» he said. «Take some job to get enough money for an apartment. That's the most important thing.» Wozniak acknowledged that uncertainty is inevitable but said he has always tried to meet it with humor and fun. His final message to graduates was simple: «Do your best.»
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