Hewlett-Packard

The founding company of Silicon Valley — started in a Palo Alto garage by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 — whose management philosophy and culture defined a generation of technology companies.

The Silicon Valley origin myth: HP's garage is the mythological birthplace of the Valley. More substantively: HP pioneered technology company management (the HP Way), built the instruments that enabled the semiconductor revolution, and created an engineering culture of exceptional quality. The HP Way — employee profit sharing, trust, decentralization, management by walking around — became the aspirational model for technology companies globally. The Carly Fiorina era (1999-2005) and subsequent splits represent the decay of that founding culture.