Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded HP in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California, in 1939 — a garage that is now recognized as 'the birthplace of Silicon Valley.' Their first product was an audio oscillator, and Walt Disney was one of their first customers (buying eight for use in producing Fantasia). From that garage, they built one of the most important technology companies in history.

HP pioneered the management philosophy known as 'The HP Way' — a culture of trust, respect, teamwork, and decentralized decision-making that influenced every technology company that followed. In an era of top-down, command-and-control management, HP gave engineers autonomy, provided profit-sharing, and created an open-door office environment. The HP Way became the template for Silicon Valley culture.

HP grew into a diversified technology company making calculators (the HP-12C is still sold today), printers, servers, and PCs. At its peak, HP was the world's largest technology company by revenue. The company eventually split into HP Inc. (PCs and printers) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (servers and services). Both Hewlett and Packard became major philanthropists, with the Packard Foundation alone holding over $8 billion in assets.