Together with Steve Jobs And Ronald WayneSet by Steve Wozniak Apple on their way to changing the world when the trio officially founded the computer company in 1976.
And during Apple is now one of the most valuable companies in the world — with a market cap of about $4.8 trillion and world-changing products like the iPhone, iPad and iMac — Wozniak said building a tech empire was never part of the plan.
“When you try things, they don’t necessarily have to be for obvious money,” Wozniak said in one Starting address for Grand Valley State University in May. “When we started Apple, did I want to make money? Start a company? Start an industry? No.”
Instead, Wozniak said he was simply driven by a desire to bring his idea for a personal computer to life — and earn the admiration of his fellow engineers.
“I wanted other engineers or other computer people to look at my designs and say, ‘Whoa,’ and appreciate me and my brilliance, ‘How did he come up with these things?'”
In the 1970s, after interrupting his studies at the University of California at Berkeley, Wozniak got a job at Hewlett-Packard (HP), where he hoped to spend his career. But after pitching his personal computer idea to the company five times in a row – and being rejected each time – he became enthusiastic about Jobs’ suggestion that they go it alone.
This decision ultimately laid the foundation for Apple – and conveyed one of Wozniak’s core messages to the graduates: Don’t be afraid to take an unconventional path.
“Don’t follow the same steps as a million other people,” he said. “Think, ‘Can I do something different?'”
Wozniak’s original stake in Apple could have made him a trillionaire today – instead he opted for a $50 paycheck
When Apple was founded, Jobs and Wozniak each received 45% ownership of the company – while Wayne received 10% – a Stock that he famously sold back just a few days later.
But Wozniak didn’t keep his stake either. In the 1980s he gradually sold a large part of his shares, Give away some shares to early employees who lacked equity capital and sums of money for charitable purposes. Had Wozniak held on to his original share of ownership, his wealth could theoretically have made him the owner the world’s first trillionaire.
But his approach reflects a long-standing skepticism about wealth accumulation.
Wozniak used to say he spent nights typing term papers for strangers and tutoring students for just a few cents – not because it paid well, but because he enjoyed it.
“If you had to type them on a real typewriter from midnight to 6 a.m. for a stranger I would never see again, I charged 5 cents,” he continued in his speech. “If you do something you love – and I love typing – you don’t have to prove it with a large sum of money.”
Wozniak carried these feelings with him later in life.
“I don’t invest. I don’t do anything like that,” he previously said told Assets. “I didn’t want to be around money because it could destroy your values.”
Wozniak retired from full-time employment at Apple in 1985, but remained on the payroll in the years prior.
“I am still an Apple employee — the only person who has received a paycheck every week since we started the company,” Wozniak said in a separate post Podcast interview 2020and added that after savings and taxes, he received “$50 a week or something” into his bank account.
Wozniak later completed his studies. His message to Generation Z: You don’t have to plan your career on day one
Wozniak grew up in California with two dream jobs in mind: becoming an electrical engineer like his father and working as a fifth-grade teacher.
Although Apple helped achieve a goal, education remained central to him.
“I was taught that your education gives you the skills to have a life, have a home, raise a family, have children and all that stuff. Education was very important to me,” he said.
Twelve years after founding the tech giant, Wozniak re-enrolled to complete his unfinished degree at the University of California, Berkeley.
At the age of 35, he finally graduated under a pseudonym so as not to attract attention: “My Berkeley diploma says Rocky Raccoon Clark.”
In the years that followed, Wozniak also realized his dream of being at the front of the classroom: He spent a decade teaching elementary and middle school students about computers.
Considering his circuitous career path, he offered advice to graduates worried about finding the perfect career path right away:
“[It] “You don’t even have to do the job you want to do for the rest of your life,” he said. “Take a job to get enough money for an apartment. That’s the most important thing.”
Wozniak acknowledged this Uncertainty is an inevitable part of life– but said he always tried to approach the problem with humor and fun. His final message to the graduates was simple: “Do your best.”
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on May 22, 2026.