Well, I'll keep it simple.
This was before iPhone times. Apple, among other things, was focusing on the applications of its product in the media-related industries. I launched a self-funded startup to develop hardware (FPGA, embedded, real-time image processing, software) for this industry segment. After a year of very hard work I was able to emerge out of the garage with a fairly sophisticated product that was very well received.
Only one problem: The product could work much better if Apple would only modify their newly-introduced Apple HD Cinema Display. I had already hacked the display and developed the modifications, I just needed Apple on board. I tried in vain to make contact with a number of people at Apple. I was getting nowhere.
My work schedule was nuts, pretty much 18 hour days, 7 days a week. That's what you do when you are launching a business, particularly if you put it all on the line and have no outside funding or support. Which means it was normal for me to be in the garage up to 3 or 4 in the morning coding, designing hardware, or just generally working on the product or business.
One morning, out of frustration, I decided to hunt down Steve's email address and send him a note. I found a plausible candidate and sent an email at 2:30 in the morning. I still remember the subject line: "Trouble doing business with Apple". That was followed by just a sentence or two which, frankly, I can't remember. Not much in the way of details. Clicked "Send" and went back to coding.
Around 3:00AM I get a short email back:
"What's the problem? -Steve"
I sat there staring at that email for some time. I finally decided that this was either someone having fun at my expense or the real guy. No harm in trying. I typed-up a couple-page response with as much detail as made sense and sent it.
I got a reply within thirty minutes or so. A couple of questions, which I answered.
The conversation ended with another short email:
"Thanks for reaching out. -Steve".
It's was 4:30 AM or so. No point sleeping. I couldn't.
Later that afternoon I got a call from a VP just below Steve. He said "Steve asked me to take care of this for him". We spoke for about 45 minutes. The following day he invited me to come out to Cupertino, meet with their engineering team, explain how to fix the problem and discuss a few other non-engineering items.
Fast forward to a few months later, I designed an iteration of our product per Apple's request and we launched it at the Apple booth during one of the industry events. Pretty crazy ride. Like I said in my prior post, I don't think I slept in a year.