The story
Two Stanford friends started with an audio oscillator built in a rented Palo Alto garage. Disney bought eight for Fantasia, and that garage is now known as the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
No. 001 · 1939 · Palo Alto
HP
Two guys, one garage, $538. The Valley's first commit.
Still the origin myth
Make my startup a legend- 1 Palo Alto, 1939. Two friends rent a garage.
- 2 Total funding: $538.
- 3 A coin toss decides whose name goes first.
- 4 Product one: an audio oscillator.
- 5 First big customer? A Hollywood animation studio.
- 6 Eight units, for a film called Fantasia.
- 7 The garage becomes a state landmark.
- 8 Every founder since has been cosplaying this.
- Founders
- Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard
- Founded
- 1939, Palo Alto
- What they do
- Printers, PCs and business hardware.