Many entrepreneurs are laser-focused on how much money their ventures can generate, but one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time didn’t seem to care very much about the money he was making.
Steve Jobs, the iconic co-founder of Apple, seemed to have a mindset that stands in stark contrast to the wealth-obsessed culture prevalent in many corners of the business world. As he steered Apple through its explosive initial growth, his personal fortune ballooned at an astonishing rate. Yet, as he tells it, the millions accumulating in his name were little more than a background noise to his true passion.
Recounting his rapid ascent into the financial elite, Jobs laid out the staggering numbers with a notable lack of ceremony. “I was worth about over a million dollars when I was 23, and over $10 million when I was 24, and over a hundred million dollars when I was 25,” he stated.
For Jobs, however, these figures were not the headline. “And it wasn’t that important,” he explained, “because I never did it for the money.” This wasn’t a feigned modesty or a denigration of wealth. He saw its value, but only as a tool. “I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things. It enables you to invest in ideas that don’t have a short-term payback and things like that.”
The core of his drive, the focal point of all his energy, lay elsewhere. “But especially at that point in my life, it was not the most important thing,” Jobs insisted. “The most important thing was the company, the people, the products we were making, what we were gonna enable people to do with these products.” His conviction was so profound that it dictated his financial strategy. “So, I didn’t think about it a great deal. I never sold any stock and just really believed that the company would do very well over the long term.”
Jobs’ philosophy is a powerful lesson in intrinsic motivation. His focus was not on the byproduct of success—the wealth—but on the source of it: creating revolutionary products. This wasn’t just a youthful ideal. Decades later, upon his celebrated return to a struggling Apple in 1997, he famously requested an annual salary of just $1. This act was a powerful symbol, reaffirming that his commitment was to the company’s soul and its mission, not his own enrichment. While the landscape of CEO compensation has evolved, with many top executives now receiving massive stock grants tied to performance, Jobs’ early and consistent stance remains a benchmark for purpose-driven leadership. His story serves as a crucial reminder that while financial success is a frequent outcome of innovation, it is the unwavering passion for the work itself that often builds the most enduring legacies.