Hi everyone, welcome to the A6 and Z podcast. I am Sonal. Today we have as our special guest,

Lawrence Levy, the former CFO of Pixar, who also took the company public. He's on the board

of directors of Pixar and was in the office of the president and has written a book just out

called To Pixar and Beyond, My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History.

In this conversation, we cover everything from his partnership with Steve Jobs to make entertainment history. In this conversation, we cover everything

from his partnership with Steve Jobs to how they figured out what kind of business Pixar should be

to the delicate balance between finance, strategy, and the business of creativity. We even cover

details about how they price their IPO and end on a more personal note about bringing

a more humanistic approach to business and corporate culture. But first, we begin with the story of

how this lawyer came to Pixar. Let's just start jumping right into your story, which essentially

you describe as an adventure story. Yeah, I think my experience at Pixar could definitely be

characterized as an adventure. It started in 1994. I imagine that I'm sitting think my experience at Pixar could definitely be characterized as an adventure. It started in

1994. I imagine that I'm sitting in my office at the company I was at then, which was

electronics for imaging. And I was sitting at my desk and the phone rings and I pick up the

phone and on the other end of the phone, I hear this voice that says, hi, this is Steve Jobs.

I saw your picture in a magazine one day. He said, I thought we

would work together someday, and I have a company that I would like to tell you about. And I immediately

thought that he was talking about Next computer, because Next was very well known, and it had gone through

quite a number of bumps. But then he says, it's Pixar. Had you even heard of it? I had heard of Pixar, but I didn't know anything

about it. How jarring, because you're hearing from this computer founder who's suddenly going to a

cartoon company, or how would people have described Pixar at that point? Oh, I wouldn't have known

enough to even know it as a cartoon company. I didn't even hardly know what to say, but I was intrigued.

...