Daniel Kottke (/ˈkɒtki/) is an American businessman known for having been a college friend of Steve Jobs and one of the first employees of Apple Inc.

[3] In 1974, Kottke and Jobs made a trek in search of spiritual enlightenment to India[4] to visit Neem Karoli Baba[5] at his Kainchi ashram.

[3][6][7] After returning from India, Kottke transferred to Columbia University in 1975 as a literature and music major.

[3] He stayed in touch with Jobs and they traveled together to fellow Reed College classmate Robert Friedland's All One Farm.

[10] After Apple filed IPO in 1980 to instant and significant financial profitability, Jobs refused to grant Kottke stock in the new company, stating that he "will give him zero".

Woz would show up once a week with his latest to test it out, and Steve Jobs was on the phone a lot in the kitchen.

"[12] In an interview with Slashdot, Kottke stated that he was consulted on early versions of the screenplay for Jobs and noted, "Ashton's very good.

The complaint that people would rightly have about the film is that it portrays Woz as not having the same vision as Steve Jobs, which is really unfair."

[12] In the same interview, Bill Fernandez and Kottke commented on the characterization of Rod Holt (portrayed by actor Ron Eldard).

Kottke disputed the characterization, noting that: "What completely cracked us all up is the scene where Rod arrives for the first time.

Fernandez, who was equally amused by this vision of Holt responded by asking, "Who could this possibly be in the Apple universe? ...

"[12] The TV show John Wants Answers took Steve Wozniak, Kottke, and Andy Hertzfeld through each film scene and discussed how the events actually occurred.