What If Steve Jobs Never Came Back?
Oct 28, 2025
As founders and business owners, we’re told to create systems, build teams, and prepare to step away.
In theory, that’s smart strategy. In practice, it’s not always that simple.
Because in coaching, consulting, and expert-led businesses, you are often the reason people buy. Your voice. Your vision. Your energy. And when you step out too far or for too long, the whole business starts to drift. It can lose its edge, its clarity, and its trust.
This Week’s Big Industry News
Kajabi just announced that its co-founders, Kenny Rueter and JCron, are stepping back in as co-CEOs. It follows a rough year — major price hikes, confused messaging, and growing frustration from top creators. Many were seriously considering leaving the platform.
Now the Founders Are Back
And if you’ve been in the digital world a while, this feels familiar.
In 1997, I was working as a consultant with Apple when Steve Jobs returned. The company was a mess — unclear focus, low morale, bloated product lines. Within months, Jobs stripped it all back to what mattered, and within years, Apple had become one of the most powerful brands on the planet.
Kajabi’s move feels like that moment.
It’s not about hype. It’s about founders recognising that they’ve drifted too far from the people they serve.
Leadership isn’t always about holding the reins forever. But it is about knowing when to step away, and when to step back in.
Kajabi’s return post speaks about AI, trust, and the rise of the expert economy. It’s a smart shift, and one that could reset their momentum — if they back it up with action. Because right now, what people want isn’t just features. It’s focus. It’s clarity. It’s someone who gets them.
That applies just as much to coaches and consultants as it does to platforms.
You can delegate admin. You can automate systems. But you can’t outsource the soul of your brand. That still needs you — your clarity, your point of view, your care.
And if you’ve been coasting a little, or stepping back from your own business lately, maybe this is your nudge.
Not to fix, to refocus.
Because when a business has lost its heart, only the founder can bring it back.
A Personal Note
Back then, Apple meant everything to me. I’d grown up on a Mac since 1986 and was working with Apple when Jobs came back. It was personal.
And Kajabi has been just as personal. I’ve used it for eight years. I’ve built businesses on it, helped others do the same, and stood by it through the ups and downs.
But earlier this year, I felt like I was watching something I cared about drift. It felt like losing a relative.
Yesterday’s news changed that. It gave me the same energy I felt all those years ago. And back then, what followed was nothing short of brilliant.
As a founder myself, I know what it means when the original energy steps back in. This is the best news I’ve seen from Kajabi in a long time.
So yes, I believe it.
And I think their competitors should be paying close attention.
The big boys are back in town.
