The biggest companies in the world have to start somewhere. Sometimes, especially in Silicon Valley, that starting place is a car garage. To understand how incredible the journey of these garage startups have been, the on-demand home services company HomeAdvisor created these clever models of where four legendary garage startups began.

Apple | 1976 | Steve Jobs’ parents’ garage | Los Altos, California

Steve Jobs’ parent’s garage is the mythological birthplace of Apple. Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne worked on their early designs and marketing plans in the legendary garage. As with many “founding myths” of successful startups, the Apple story has competing accounts, but the home is still owned by Jobs’ step-mother and is a popular tourist spot for Apple fans.

Disney | 1923 | The garage of Walt and Roy Disney’s Uncle Robert | Los Angeles

When Walt Disney moved to Hollywood to join his older brother Roy, the two set up in their Uncle Robert’s garage where they would start what would one day grow into the world’s biggest animation studio. Saved from demolition in 1998, the garage was moved to the Stanley Ranch Museum in Garden Grove, where small groups can visit and see Disney memorabilia.

Hewlett-Packard | 1939 | Dave and Lucile Packard’s garage | Palo Alto, California

Bill Hewlett‎ and ‎David Packard became Hewlett-Packard when the two co-founders started working from a garage outside the house Packard and his wife were renting in Palo Alto. Hewlett lived in a shack on the property also.

Google | 1998 | Susan Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park, California

Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin rented Susan Wojcicki’s garage between September 1998 and February 1999 to begin work on Google. The eight-employee then moved to an office in Palo Alto. Today the house is owned by Google and was used to commemorate the company’s 15th anniversary.

For more about the Google garage, google it.

Sources 

Martin, J. (2015) On the set of Steve Jobs film cnet.com
Haire, C. (2015) A piece of Disney history in Garden Grove ocregister.com
Eventually Made. (2018) Garage Tales eventuallymade.com
Johnson Mandell, L. (2017) The HP Garage – The Birthplace of Silicon Valley hpmuseum.org
Eventually Made. (2018) Garage Tales eventuallymade.com
Parmar, N. (2014) Wanted from the Middle East: the next Apple or Microsoft thenational.ae
Wagner, K. (2013) In the Garage Where Google Was Born mashable.com
Bohn, D. (2013) Garage brand: Google taps its founding myth in search of a new beginning theverge.com

Models from HomeAdvisor. Used with permission.