The journey of many iconic startups began in humble garages, often overlooked by mainstream narratives. One of the most notable examples is Apple, founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Jobs and Wozniak initially assembled the Apple I computer in Jobs' parents' garage in Los Altos, California. Interestingly, Wayne sold his 10% stake just days after co-founding the company, missing out on billions in profits.
Another iconic startup, Amazon, was launched by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online bookstore from his garage in Bellevue, Washington. Bezos originally named the company "Cadabra," but later changed it to Amazon, inspired by the river's vastness. Trivia reveals that Amazon's first customer was a friend of Bezos, and it took over three years for the company to turn a profit.
Google emerged from a Stanford University garage in 1998, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The duo developed their revolutionary search algorithm, PageRank, while still graduate students. A lesser-known fact is that Google’s original name was “Backrub,” reflecting its function of analyzing backlinks. They ultimately changed it to Google, a play on the mathematical term “googol,” representing the vast amount of information they aimed to organize.
The story of Hewlett-Packard also traces back to a garage in Palo Alto, California, where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their company in 1939. Their first product was an audio oscillator, which they sold to Disney for use in the animated film “Fantasia.” This partnership marked one of the first instances of Silicon Valley's symbiotic relationship with entertainment.
Microsoft was co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. The duo initially started by developing software for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. A notable piece of trivia is that Gates dropped out of Harvard University to pursue this venture, believing in the potential of personal computing.
These stories illustrate how modest beginnings often pave the way for monumental advancements and reshaping entire industries.