Case Study on Negotiation: Negotiating With Steve Jobs

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(‘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.

From Heidi Roizen’s Blog:

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

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