Eric Hoffert received job offers from Apple and NeXT in the mail.
I had one weekend at home in December 1988 to decide. It was the most torturous decision of my life. I was going completely nuts trying to figure out what to do. I wanted both experiences, right? I wanted to work at Apple. I wanted to work with Jobs. Who knew they would come together later on at that time? They were separate options in 1988, but in the end, I decided to work at Apple. I didn’t know it, but Steve Jobs got word of my decision to go to Apple. And I remember being at home on that Monday, and the phone rang, and I answered ‘Hello.’
'Hi, it's Steve.'
‘Oh,' I said. 'Hi, Steve.'
And then he said, 'You're making the stupidest move of your entire career. Apple's big, fat, and slow moving. We have all the best people here at NeXT. You're making a huge mistake. Please don't ruin your career. You're going to go there, and you'll be crying and wishing you came to NeXT . You need to rescind your Apple offer. Come join me at NeXT, and we're going to do something great.'
