Not a founder — and still one of the most successful CEOs of all time: How Tim Cook made Apple the most valuable machine in the world.
Tim Cook is the ultimate non-founder success story. As he steps down as CEO of Apple after 15 years, this is the most important takeaway for me.
In Silicon Valley, founders are celebrated as the only leaders capable of creating large, disruptive and sustainable value. Cook has spectacularly debunked this “founder mode” theory.
I was there from the beginning. When Steve Jobs died in 2011, I went to Apple headquarters to report on the mood there. Beneath the sadness lay many questions: Would the company exist without its legendary co-founder? Cook, a supply chain and operations specialist, took the lead. Would he be as innovative as Jobs?
Laughter at my bright green pants
These doubts hung over Apple for years. At the end of 2013, I called Cook a “loser” in an analysis after he spent much of the year showing that the company could continue to develop groundbreaking devices that change people’s lives.
About six months later, I traveled to Apple headquarters again to meet Cook, Eddy Cue, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine to interview about the acquisition of Beats Electronics.
I don’t think the CEO had yet forgiven me for my “loser” statement. When I showed up wearing bright green pants, Cook asked if I had come straight from the golf course. I stammered as Cook and his team laughed. Yes, even Dr. Dre laughed at my pants. I’ll never forget that.
Life after Steve Jobs
Another thing I will never forget is Cook’s answer to one of my questions. The Beats takeover was by far Apple’s largest acquisition at the time. “Would Steve Jobs have made a takeover like this?” I asked.
Cook said he tries not to constantly ask himself, “What would Steve do?” — but still lead Apple with the same ethos of obsessive product excellence.
At the time I was a bit disappointed by this answer. But over time I have come to appreciate the differentiated, balanced and pragmatic approach. Jobs didn’t come back. Cook was not Jobs and never could be. So the new CEO went his own way — while keeping alive the fundamental goals and ideals of his famous predecessor.
The trillion mark
In 2018, Apple’s market value exceeded the $1 trillion mark for the first time, making it the first listed US company to do so. Instead of being a non-founder “loser,” Cook had created about $650 billion in value — almost twice as much as Jobs.
At the time, I was an editor at Bloomberg and asked iPod designer Tony Fadell for his opinion.
“Tim and his team have masterfully evolved Steve’s vision while bringing operational and environmental excellence to every part of the company — achieving unprecedented scale while maintaining exceptionally high margins in the consumer electronics business,” said Fadell.
Another three trillion
Since then, Apple has built up another $3 trillion in market value. The iPhone has evolved from a cool gadget to the central tool that most people use to organize their lives.
Macs got better thanks to Apple’s own chips — a strategy Cook executed with typical precision. My MacBook is still extremely fast even after more than five years of intensive use. Incredible.
Apple’s services business really took off with the Beats acquisition because it gave the company a music streaming service that could compete with Spotify. Today, services generate well over $100 billion in sales — and are highly profitable.
“Tim Cook built Apple into the company it is today. This world-changing magnitude is clearly the result of his leadership and focus,” said Matt Rogers, a former iPhone designer and co-founder of Nest Labs.
His last victory?
Was Cook as innovative as Apple’s co-founder? Maybe not. The company canceled a self-driving car project after years of problems. The Vision Pro was an expensive flop, and the big question remains whether Apple is lagging behind in AI.
Still, new wearables are in development, and Apple has so far avoided the massive investments that other Big Tech companies are making in AI. This could end up being Cook’s last big win.
But the market doesn’t lie — especially not over many years: Apple is one of the most valuable listed companies in the world. And Tim Cook made it possible.
What’s also interesting is that Apple is currently roughly on a par with Google in terms of market value. And who has been running Google for over a decade? A non-founder named Sundar Pichai.
