Businesses need profits in order to operate but there are millions of other reasons to be in business besides profit. I really doubt profit was the only reason Steve and Woz started Apple.
Lethal
No matter how much you do what you love,
when you do it as a business, if you're not turning a profit you're going to have serious cash flow problems. If someone just does what they love without an eye to profits, then they can simply do it as a hobby or some form of freelance work where they get paid whatever and whenever.
Steve and Woz probably didn't start out just to make money, but to realize a vision . . . but via selling something to consumers. The only way to sustain that, however, is to make more money than you spend.
This is the difference between doing what you love as a hobby or as a form of personal expression that is not for sale or for casual sale, and a business with the intent to turn a profit (which is what defines a business in the first place.)
Steve and Woz could have done what they loved as a hobby or freelance activity on their own time or for others. But when they decided to build a business around it, they transitioned to a situation where the only way to sustain that business over the long term would be to turn a profit. Otherwise, there is no reason to
build a business around it. They could claim all they want that the most important thing is their vision, but if they care about remaining in a position to give something to others consistently for money and ensure their vision has maximum impact directly on the consumer according to their explicit wishes, then profit is the only way they could keep doing that.
Otherwise, they could have simply given their inventions away to others or made whatever money that came their way, or worked for others a designers and engineers.
At some point, you can claim your primary goal is *not* to make money, but that's usually when you're secure in the fact that your focus on creativity and love for your work will pull in money and help you turn a profit anyway.
Business are profit driven, but the successful people who run them need not necessarily be profit driven. I think this is what you meant. Since the thing that creates profit is a great product. And that requires energy, creativity, vision, etc.
