The Garage That Built a Fortune 500
1938, Palo Alto, California. Two Stanford graduates — Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard — started a company in a single-car garage with $538 in startup capital. Their first product was an audio oscillator. Nobody could have predicted this garage would become the spiritual birthplace of Silicon Valley.
They named the company Hewlett-Packard — literally flipping a coin to decide whose name came first. Hewlett won. Today, that garage is officially designated a California Historical Landmark, visited by thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs every year.
The First Big Break
Their first major customer was Disney. Walt Disney himself bought eight HP 200A audio oscillators for the sound system in Fantasia. The order gave HP its first real revenue. More importantly, it proved that two young men's product could meet world-class demand.
During World War II, HP produced radar and electronic equipment for the military, and the company grew rapidly. After the war, unlike many defense contractors, HP successfully pivoted to civilian markets, producing precision electronic measurement instruments.
The HP Way
Hewlett and Packard are celebrated not just for their products, but for the company culture they created — known as "The HP Way." It rests on three core principles:
First, trust people. HP was among the first Silicon Valley companies to adopt flexible working hours. The founders believed that when employees are trusted and respected, they produce beyond expectations. Second, open management. HP's "Management By Wandering Around" had leaders regularly walk the floor and listen to frontline employees. Third, share the wealth. HP pioneered profit-sharing and employee stock ownership, tying the company's success to every individual.
💡 Entrepreneurial Insight
The HP Way proves a timeless truth: company culture isn't a poster on the wall — it's the choices founders make from day one. Hewlett and Packard started with $538, but from the very beginning, they chose to build a company people could be proud of.
Silicon Valley's Incubator
HP wasn't just one of Silicon Valley's founders — it was the region's first great incubator. Employees who left HP went on to start hundreds of tech companies. A young Steve Jobs got his first exposure to electronics working a summer job at HP. Jobs later said: "HP was the mothership of Silicon Valley. Without HP, there would be no Apple."
Remarkably, HP later bought back and restored that 1938 garage, preserving it as it was. The door reads "1938-1939" — more worth visiting than any Silicon Valley museum.
The Legacy
HP grew into one of the world's largest technology companies, spanning computers, printers, software, and services. In 2015, HP split into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, each continuing to innovate in its domain. But both carry the spirit born in that garage — stay hungry, stay humble, think like a startup no matter how big you get.