founding

  • Finding Treasure: Fisher Research Labs

    Who hasn’t fantasized about discovering a buried stash of old valuables, or uncovering a pirate’s treasure from the beach? Children and adults alike love to rediscover the past, and one of the most fun and potentially lucrative ways to do that comes with treasure hunting. Hobbyists and professionals who search through ruins, farmsteads and beaches for relics from another time capture the imagination of us all, and hearing about someone finding a lost wedding ring or handful of colonial-era coins makes you wish that you’d been the one searching your backyard! This desire is exactly the reason that led Dr. Gerhard Fisher to patent the metal detector and found Fisher Research Labs, an ongoing world leader in metal detectors. Fisher founded his company in 1931 in Palo Alto, California, inside the garage attached to his home.

  • The HP Garage

    The Hewlett-Packard Company, usually called HP, is one of the largest information technology companies in the world. They produce a variety of hardware components and software that are used all around the world. HP employs over 300,000 employees and earned more than 110 billion dollars of revenue in 2014. Needless to say, HP is a big deal in the world of electronics, but the company has one high honor that has nothing to do with their commercial success; the garage in which HP first operated has been named “the birthplace of Silicone Valley” and added it to the list of California Historical Landmarks. Hewlett-Packard started in a garage, and for over seventy-five years since then they have been one of the preeminent names in information technology.

  • The Google Garage

    Google is the most omnipresent and omnipotent power that people interact with on a daily basis, which has given some geeks the idea to argue that Googlism – that is, worship of Google as God – is the closest that humans will ever come to interacting with something omnipotent. The farcical religion is more joke than theology, but the believers of Googlism are right about Google’s power over every part of our lives. Google is the most-visited website in the world and handles over half of all internet searches, but Google Inc is also involved in Email, cloud storage, an office software suite, and a host of cutting-edge technologies like self-driving cars and augmented reality headsets. The company is a very big deal, and vying with Apple (another garage startup!) for the coveted position of most valuable brand.

  • Holding a Candle to Yankee Candle

    The Kittredge family may just have a little wax in their blood. Michael Kittredge II started making candles when he was just 16, starting The Yankee Candle Company in his parent’s garage. Forty years later, his son Michael III founded Kringle Candle, establishing the company just 20 miles from Yankee Candle’s flagship store. Michael III is intent on following in his father’s footsteps to greatness, although of course having a multimillionaire father means that he has plenty of help beginning his journey. Michael Kittredge the II, his father, only had three things – a dream, a garage, and a single candle.

  • Making Mickey: Disney’s Dream Turned Reality

    Walt Disney’s success sounds almost like one of his fairy tales. When the young cartoonist began filming his “Alice Comedy” shorts in his uncle’s garage, no one could have predicted that Disney would spend the next century growing into a multi-billion dollar international king of family entertainment, revolutionizing animation and building some of the world’s most visited tourist attractions, the Disneyland parks in Florida, California, Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong.

  • Dream House DIY: Building a Toy Empire

    Did you know that Mattel got their start in a garage? Mattel is the Fortune-500 toy manufacturing company responsible for several of the biggest names in toys; Fisher-Price, Barbie, Hot Wheels, American Girl, Matchbox, and several other household names are produced entirely by this American powerhouse. Want to read all about how newlyweds Ruth and Elliot Handler began Mattel in two different garages, over a decade of their lives? We’ve got you covered.

  • Blogging for Apples

    Did you know that Apple got their start in a garage? You’ve probably heard of Apple Inc., but just in case you get your news through smoke signals and rely upon carrier pigeons for your texting, we’ll summarize: Apple sells a range of personal computers, consumer electronics, computer software, and digital media. They are the largest traded corporation in the world in terms of market capitalization, with 182.8 billion dollars of revenue in 2014 alone. In short, Apple is a huge deal in the world of technology. Want to read all about how they started from the ground up inside Steve Job’s parent’s garage? We’ve got you covered.