Can you imagine having the opportunity to sell an idea to Steve Jobs and that you “caught in a lie”? That happened to Ali Parvoti.
“Fake it ’till you make it” (Lie until you make it, in English) is a phrase widely heard in Silicon Valley for entrepreneurs who are starting out and approach investors to convince them to participate in their idea or even sell their business.
However, believing yourself to be more than who you really are can be very counterproductive and even miss out on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
The opportunity to present a pitch to Steve Jobs
That’s how he narrated it Ali Partovy: In 2008 he was the CEO of iLike, a startup that had aroused the interest of Apple. The entrepreneur recalled the time when he lied to Steve Jobs and lost the opportunity of a lifetime.
Through a Twitter thread, Partovi narrated that at that time his company iLike offered integration between Facebook, iTunes and Windows Media Player and gave recommendations to users. It was so popular that at that time it accumulated 60 million Internet users.
On Twitter, Partovi says that this success aroused the interest of Apple at a time when they were suffering from a lot of pressure from record companies and Facebook. Then the meeting between the three co-founders of iLike took place and Eddy Cue and Steve Jobs from Apple.
Overall the pitch seemed to be successful. Even Jobs stated: “I like them. They have good arguments. Seems like they would be a good fit for Apple. I want to buy your company. I’ll let Eddy clarify the details with you.”
And at that moment, everything went to hell.
“I know we are worth 3 times more than that”
At that point, Partovi asked Jobs what the range of money they were considering was.
“This was a rookie move. I wish my mistakes had ended there. The worst was yet to come ”, narrates the entrepreneur on his Twitter.
Jobs asked him “What is your income? What was the last assessment of him? Partovi heard that Apple would pay them the same amount they had reported a few years ago, which meant they hadn’t created new value. He told Jobs that his investors would not accept such a deal to which the Apple co-founder told him that they would take care of it.
Then Partovi made the mistake of her life:
He said, “Steve, I think we’re worth at least three times that. What’s more, I know we’re worth three times that amount.”
Jobs was enraged and replied sharply: “You say you know you’re worth more? Do you have another offer? Shit, you’re lying to me. You are full of shit. We’re done”. The Apple co-founder got up from the table and walked out of the boardroom, leaving Eddy Cue to explain himself.
That was the end of the iLike opportunity. Cue tried to keep the deal going for a smaller sum, but Jobs was no longer interested. Soon after, Apple released the Genius Toolbar for iTunes and Facebook that had similar functionality to iLike.
The difference between “know” and “believe”
You will ask yourself “What was the lie that made Steve Jobs angry?”
Partovi answers it on Twitter with the clarity that comes years after an experience: “the difference between believing and knowing what your company is worth comes down to one thing… real figures.”
At one point, on a later call, Steve told him point-blank, “You’re a liar and I don’t trust anything you say.”
“The hard truth is I can’t blame him: trust can be ruined by a single word and it’s not easy to rebuild.
“Never overstate your value when negotiating a big deal – especially not against a stronger player. There are ways to be a strong negotiator without lying.”
A year after the meeting with Apple, Partovi and his partners sold their company at a loss.
The entrepreneur dusted himself off and later founded Neo, a community of mentors and venture capital fund that brings together technology veterans to accelerate tomorrow’s leaders. He is also a co-founder of Code.org, a hub for coding courses for young people from around the world.
“Steve Jobs taught me to be paranoid about the fine line between exaggeration and lies: it can be as subtle as a word. If you cross that line, you can destroy yourself. I am grateful to him for this lesson.”
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.