Wouldn't it be great to have a crystal ball? Some way to see into the future and learn if you just made a genius decision or a regrettable mistake?
The folks on this list sure could have used that.
The tech industry is littered with stories of people making choices that would cost them hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.
Nolan Bushnell could have owned one-third of Apple
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell turned down the opportunity to invest $50,000 in seed money in Apple. At Atari, Bushnell was one of Steve Jobs's first bosses.
Had Bushnell said yes, he would have owned a third of Apple, a company that is today valued at more than $400 billion.
Ronald Wayne could be worth $40 billion today
Ronald Wayne, Apple's third cofounder, sold his 10% stake in Apple for $800 two weeks after launch. He later got $1,500 for renouncing all claims to ownership.
If he had kept it, it would be worth about $40 billion today.
HP execs said no to Woz five times
Back in the 1970's Steve Wozniak worked for Hewlett-Packard designing engineering calculators. In his spare time, he created a PC that would later become the Apple 1 computer.
Five times, Woz begged the executives at HP, lead by then-CEO John Young, to manufacture his PC. They said no. So he left HP to start a company called Apple with his buddy Steve Jobs.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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