Big companies often feel like they were born fully formed, complete with campuses and cafeterias that thousands of employees use. However, the reality is much smaller and more human. Many of the most valuable businesses in the world began in garages where space was tight and money was limited. Ambition did most of the heavy lifting. Now, we have these companies whose early days involved concrete floors, extension cords, and a lot of patience.
Amazon
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In 1994, Jeff Bezos left a hedge fund job in New York and moved to Bellevue, Washington, where he rented a house and used the garage to build an online bookstore. He spent about a year programming the early version of Amazon.com, which went live in July 1995. The garage setup eventually failed for a practical reason, since too many computers kept tripping the circuit breakers. Amazon is now valued at roughly $1.7 trillion, and Bezos later transitioned from CEO to executive chairman.
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Google’s valuation has climbed to about $1.4 trillion, but in 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were merely renting a Menlo Park garage from Susan Wojcicki. There, they worked on the search engine born at Stanford. The garage helped them pay her mortgage, and it also became Google’s first real headquarters. Wojcicki later joined as Google’s 16th employee, and the company moved into an office the following year.
Apple
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The garage at Steve Jobs’ parents’ home in Los Altos, California, played a role in Apple’s early story in 1976. Steve Wozniak later clarified that the major design work was done elsewhere, but the finished computers were tested and stored in the garage before being sold for cash. The space became symbolic and is now considered a historic site. Apple is currently valued at around $2.2 trillion.
Microsoft
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Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft in 1975. They did it in a garage in Albuquerque while developing software for the Altair 8800. The pair later used a nearby motor hotel as a base because of its proximity to a computer company. Microsoft, now valued at $1.8 trillion, relocated to Washington State in 1979 and grew into one of the largest tech employers.
Mattel
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Mattel, now valued at about $6.3 billion, began in a Southern California garage in 1944 when Harold Matson and Elliot Handler started making picture frames. Leftover wood was used to build dollhouse furniture, which sold better than the frames themselves. The shift pushed the company toward toys and set the stage for later successes, such as Barbie.
Hewlett-Packard
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As for Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, they rented a one-car garage in Palo Alto in 1938 and worked there part-time. That space is often described as Silicon Valley’s birthplace. With $32.5 billion under its wing, it’s crazy to think that a coin flip decided HP’s company name. Their first product was an audio oscillator used to test sound equipment.
Disney
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After a bad deal with a film distributor, Walt Disney moved to Hollywood in the early 1920s and lived with his uncle. He set up a cartoon workspace in the uncle’s garage, where he and his brother Roy created the Alice Comedies using a $200 used camera. Those shorts led to the formation of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Disney has since grown into a media company valued at about $305 billion.
Dell
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Michael Dell began selling custom-built computers in 1984 from his dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin. Dell is now valued at around $55 billion. As orders increased, he moved operations into a nearby garage for extra space. Dell dropped out of college soon after to focus on the business full-time.
Lotus Cars
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Lotus Cars grew from those early hand-built cars into a respected sports and racing brand, known for competition success and road-going performance models. The company began in 1948 when Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman built his first car in a stable next to a hotel in Hornsey, London. Chapman was only 20 years old and worked with limited tools while experimenting with lightweight engineering ideas.
Harley-Davidson
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The first Harley-Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903 inside a 10-by-15-foot wooden shed in Milwaukee. William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson used the shed as both workshop and branding space, with the company name painted on the door. The motorcycles quickly gained attention for their power and durability. Harley-Davidson is currently valued at about $5.1 billion.