The day Steve Jobs dissed me in a keynote (2010)
In 2003, I met Steve Jobs to get CD Baby's catalog into iTunes, only to face a confusing delay after he publicly criticized independent services like mine during a keynote. Despite refunding $200,000 to 5,000 musicians because I couldn't guarantee delivery, Apple suddenly accepted our contract the next day. This experience taught me a hard lesson: never promise customers something entirely out of your control.
Ever since I started my company in 1998, I had been offering an excellent service. I could make promises and keep them, because I was in full control.