This content was created by Tim Draper. This content was uploaded by Tim Draper. This is a YouTube talk titled "Steve Jobs & Elevator Rides | Mediacamp's Dave Austin" (uploaded June 14, 2015) in which Dave Austin delivers an informal presentation recounting Steve Jobs "elevator" stories and advising listeners to always be prepared with both product and personal elevator pitches, to articulate their value, and to make the most of chance encounters and access to influential people (he directly addresses an audience member named Tim).
Chapters
OK. Everybody know the context of the elevator story? Everybody's heard the elevator stories about Steve Jobs? Yeah. OK. That's what I mean by surprise, surprise. So let me explain. There's a story about— it's sort of lore— that nobody would want to go on a ride in aisle 1, which is the main campus building, with Steve. Because you get in the elevator, the first thing he does is he talks to you. Scary for me. But he'll talk to you, and he'll ask you who you are, what you're doing, what your deal is. And you need to be able to answer. Because the rumor, the lore is somebody did it to somebody, and the person kind of gave him a half-assed answer, and that person was then fired. That's the story. I don't know if it's true. Probably true, because a lot of us were fired many times by Steve. That happens all the time. It's like, oh, you're fired this week? Yes. Good. That means you're pushing. And you're bossing. So I used to ride an elevator. All the time, I always was prepared to have a conversation. And I think thinking that way and going through life and thinking about that you always want to be prepared to have a conversation to explain why you are there, what value are you providing, and what you're doing is really, really important. It means you're not afraid of elevator rides. You're not afraid to deal with anybody who comes and asks you a question about your product or your thing, because you're always ready for it, because you're thinking about What your current value is, what you're trying to accomplish, and you have your elevator pitch ready. And that pitch is not just the— it's not, to me, there's the product elevator pitch. That's interesting. The more valuable thing is what's your personal pitch? What is your soul? Why are you doing what you're doing? That's more personal. So I've ridden up many times with Steve. I mean, I even was stupid enough once when he was coming up and the door started closing, is I held the door and helped It's like, I had a chance to just let the door close. You've been in elevators and had that happen. And I didn't, because I wasn't worried. And I think if you can operate that way and think about the fact that you might be asked at any moment— I mean, you're getting great exposure to amazing people. Tim, the access you're getting is huge. A couple things. Don't get cocky, but don't be afraid. Be you. Let yourself go through and think about it. Prepare for it. Think that it's going to happen and figure out what your value is.
