Company · Technology · Consumer Products · founded 1976
Apple
Cupertino technology company making consumer electronics, software and online services. Bought Beats Electronics in 2014 for about $3 billion.
Of the 10 people here linked to Apple, 2 are founders and 2 are still there. 2 of them also appear at Beats Electronics. These are people who succeeded, not the odds of succeeding.
Description and founding year: en.wikipedia.org. Each person's role links to its own source on their profile.
10 people at Apple
Founder Still there
Role
Co-founder; vice president of research and development; ceremonial employee, 1976–now
Also at
Source
· medium confidence. Left as an active employee in 1985; the source says he has remained an employee in a ceremonial capacity since. Status current rests on that Wikipedia statement alone.
Technology · Software 2 / 0
Steve Wozniak
Co-founder of Apple; sole designer of the Apple I and primary designer of the Apple II
comfortable middle-class · well-connected · college degree
Executive Still there
Technology 5 / 3
Tim Cook
Chief Executive Officer, Apple (2011–2026)
working-class · some · graduate degree
Founder Past
Role
Co-founder, CEO and chairman, 1976–2011
Also at
Source
· high confidence. Left in 1985, returned as CEO in 1997, resigned in 2011.
Technology 3 / 1
Steve Jobs
Co-founder and CEO, Apple; CEO, Pixar
working-class · well-connected · some college
Employee Past
Role
Product testing
Also at
Source
· medium confidence. Wikipedia says he moved into product testing roles at Apple and Adobe before joining Yahoo in 1996; it gives no dates or titles for Apple.
Technology · Software · Cybersecurity 2 / 0
Brian Acton
Co-founder, WhatsApp; co-founder and executive chairman, Signal Foundation
comfortable, business-owning family · well-connected · college degree
Employee Past
Role
Intern programmer, writing assembly code for the Macintosh, while at USC
Also at
Source
· medium confidence. Wikipedia gives no dates for the internship.
Software 2 / 2
Marc Benioff
Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
upper-middle-class · elite · college degree
Employee Past
Role
Worked on eWorld, an early online service, 1994
Source
· medium confidence. Wikipedia says he joined Apple Computer in 1994 and worked on eWorld; it gives no end year (AOL acquired eWorld in 1996).
Technology · Software · Venture Capital 2 / 0
Reid Hoffman
Co-founder of LinkedIn; early PayPal executive; Greylock Partners venture capitalist
professional-class · elite · graduate degree
Joined by acquisition Past
Role
Executive after Apple acquired Beats, 2014
Source
· medium confidence. The page says he worked with Apple for years after the acquisition but gives no end date.
Music 9 / 7
Dr. Dre
Record producer; co-founder, Beats Electronics (Dr. Dre)
public housing · outsider · no college
Joined by acquisition Past
Role
Executive after Apple acquired Beats; helped create Apple Music, 2014–2018
Source
· high confidence
Music 4 / 1
Jimmy Iovine
Co-founder, Interscope Records and Beats Electronics
working-class · well-connected · some college
Connected companies
Other companies that share profiled people with Apple.
Beats Electronics
2 shared: Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine
Hewlett-Packard
2 shared: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak
Meta Platforms
2 shared: Brian Acton, Reid Hoffman
Oracle
2 shared: Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff
100 Thieves
1 shared: Marc Benioff
Airbnb
1 shared: Reid Hoffman
IBM
1 shared: Tim Cook
Microsoft
1 shared: Reid Hoffman
Netflix
1 shared: Bozoma Saint John
NeXT
1 shared: Steve Jobs
OpenAI
1 shared: Reid Hoffman
PayPal
1 shared: Reid Hoffman
PepsiCo
1 shared: Bozoma Saint John
Salesforce
1 shared: Marc Benioff
Tesla
1 shared: Larry Ellison
Uber
1 shared: Bozoma Saint John
WhatsApp
1 shared: Brian Acton
Yahoo
1 shared: Brian Acton