[hammock]

You seem to be suggesting the problem is that Jobs allowed himself to get offended. Isn't it rather that there was a lack of trust between parties? In failing to recognize that "mark to model" does not work in the real world, and that you are worth whatever someone will pay for you, OP "lied" to Steve, who was "marking to market," by contrast. Whether or not OP intended to deceive, this was a misstep in the relationship.

[pas]

What? It was a 3-4 sentence exchange and Steve simply piledrived through the guy in his typical bully way. ("We'll make sure the investort accept it.") The startup wanted a higher price and the guy said it so with emphasis, this triggered Steve, and that's the end of the story, the blahblah about offers and trust doesn't really matter, as at that point it was about emotion. (They just met there was no established trust anyway.) The guy folded like a house of cards - as would probably anyone who happens to be doing their first negotiation to sell their company, especially doing it with the oh so powerful Mr Jobs.

And this huge analysis about deceptive intent makes no sense. Of course the startup wanted a price as high as they can get.