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The rise of corporate structure and business growth as we know it today began in the earliest days of
Silicon Valley, and with Hewle Packard (HP) in par cular. HP's founders started their company in a
garage in Palo Alto in 1939 with $538 (about $10,000, adjusted for infla on). It took 20 years for HP
to make its first acquisi on and reach $28 million in revenue by crea ng products to help businesses
operate and grow. HP grew for several decades through innova on and by delivering first-of-its-kind
products. Its growth, however, began to stall when its business model relied more on acquisi on of
large technology companies and less on innova on.
By the late 1990s, HP's success was eclipsed by younger, more agile, second-genera on technology
companies like Google. These companies were growing by delivering "what's next"—not only products
but also disrup ve ideas and revolu onary new approaches to growth. From their earliest days, they
were also far be er funded, now by venture capitalists with deep pockets and hungry for big ideas.
Compared to HP's ini al investment, Google began with a $100,000 investment from a Sun
Microsystems co-founder and, one year later, received a $25 million venture capital investment. The
financial environment that companies like Google were opera ng in, compared to HP in 1939, had a
clear impact on how they approached and achieved growth.
Technology Revolution
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Google & Apple Growth vs. HP
HP
Google & Apple Growth
HP - slow growth pattern
HP starts picking up while Google and Apple
start and continue to grow exponentially!
