Almost all entrepreneurs associate
their journey with starting from a garage. The hardships and struggles faced by
an average entrepreneur is perfectly epitomized by the concept of a garage. So,
Who started the whole idea of starting from the quintessential
"garage" ? Though it's exact origins might be difficult to pinpoint,
but arguably, the pioneers of this idea were the founders of HP, the true
beginners of Silicon Valley. They have done it all and had arrived the earliest
in Silicon Valley.
HP needs no introduction. Its one of
the world's largest information technology companies in the world, whose
operations range from personal computing devices to printers. With net revenue
clocking $126.3 billion in 2010, HP was the first IT company in the world to
cross the $ 100 billion barrier. It features on the 11th on the Fortune 500
list and first among companies belonging to its sector.
The journey of HP can be traced back
to 1934 when Bill Hewlett and David Packard graduated in electrical engineering
from Stanford University. While Bill
remained at Stanford, preparing for graduate work at MIT, David moved to
Schenectady, New York and started work with GE. Bill soon leaves for MIT, only
to return back to Palo Alto, California in 1936. Soon, Dr. Frederick Terman, a
professor at Stanford University, persuaded the two to come back and encouraged
them to start up their own companies. His efforts as a mentor to HP and other
companies in the neighborhood, earned
him the title of "Father of Silicon Valley". David took a leave of
absence from his employer GE and along with his wife Lucile, travelled back to
California, to "make a run for it" in business.
While David returned from New York,
Bill took the time in finding a perfect location to start their operations
from. At that time, Palo Alto was a typical neighborhood with none of its
technology companies which exist today. Bill zeroed in on a house in Addison
Avenue, which had a garage and a shed in its backyard. Bill found it to be the
ideal location for the start-up and referred to the choice as
"A-number-1", which meant the highest desirable location. As David
arrived with his wife, he moved into the house and Bill, unmarried at that time
chose to stay in the shed, which he used as a bunkhouse. They decide to start
operations in the garage and used the living room as their meeting hall. At the
time of origin, the only had $538 in their pockets to begin with.
Bill soon found his partner in Flora
and both the wives started working full time in nearby Stanford University. It
was mainly their income which funded the initial growth of the enterprise. The
company started with products like a diathermy machine, harmonica tuners and
other items which bear no resemblance to its current product line. Their
initial assignments were more in search for money, rather than anything else.
Their crowning glory came with the 200A audio oscillator, which redefined the
company's future and funded them in the early days. Their oscillators were even
used in the sound production of the Disney Movie, "Fantasia". Thus
began the entrepreneurial journey of HP.
But, Packard and Hewlett's
partnership became permanent only on January 1st, 1939.In 1940, they came up
with the name "HP" after a coin toss. They had thought of either
Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett and decided to shortlist one after a toss.
Even though Packard won the toss, he liked the way "Hewlett-Packard"
sounded, so they went with that. HP's operations soon started to blossom a it
outgrew the garage on 367 Addison Avenue and shifted into a rented office in a
nearby locale. The electronics products made by HP were first rate and eagerly
embraced by companies and individuals nearby.
The days of World War II brought with
itself prosperity and HP primarily worked towards electronic and radio
components. Innovation in their products brought HP to the top among its
competitors and the company continued its steady growth. HP's emphasis on new
products and inventions soon paved the way for the company getting listed on
the stock markets. The 50s, after the war, was boom time for Silicon Valley and
American Tech Companies. This paved the way for HP breaking into the Fortune
500 in early sixties. The rest is
history, as they say.
The HP Way
Prevalent Management philosophy during
those times put the company's responsibility only to the shareholders. HP broke away from this tradition and adopted
a groundbreaking management technique which puts employee and
their well being in the forefront and welfare of humanity as one of its core
ideology. This management philosophy is popularly termed as "The HP
Way" and was even called crazy during those days . In recent years,
several tech companies from the Silicon Valley are associated with such an open
philosophy which draws its origins from the forward thinking founders of HP. This kind of commitment to workers has resulted in loyalty
and stability for the company.
HP Today
Today, HP serves as an inspiration
to millions of individuals across the world who want to start-up. The HP garage is officially recognized as the
"The Birthplace of the Silicon Valley". Bill Hewlett and David
Packard's dream of starting up and "making a run for it" has now
transformed into a multi-billion dollar enterprise which features among the top
companies in the world. HP was the "Google" of yesteryears and
continues to reinvent itself as time moves on and in its path serving as a
role-model for millions of people.
