No. 002 · 1957 · Palo Alto

Fairchild Semiconductor

Eight engineers rage-quit. The Valley never stopped.

Spawned everybody

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Make my startup a legend
  1. 1 1957. The boss is a genius and a nightmare.
  2. 2 Eight of his best meet in secret.
  3. 3 They sign a dollar bill. It's their founding contract.
  4. 4 He calls them traitors. The name sticks.
  5. 5 They bet on silicon, not germanium.
  6. 6 The silicon transistor works.
  7. 7 Then they leave too. Each starts something new.
  8. 8 Quitting becomes the Valley's business model.
Founders
The Traitorous Eight, including Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore
Founded
1957, Palo Alto
What they do
Silicon transistors and the first commercial integrated circuits.

The story

Eight young scientists walked out on William Shockley to build silicon transistors on their own terms. Their alumni went on to start Intel, AMD and dozens more, which gave the Valley its habit of quitting to start something.