Woz Downplays the Significance of Apple's Startup Garage

mrspoonsi (2955715) writes "When thinking about the early days of Apple, most people who know even a little bit about the company probably picture Steve Jobs and cofounder Steve Wozniak busily brainstorming in a small garage in Silicon Valley. That's how the story goes — in fact, the garage where they famously started the company was even deemed a historical site last year. Wozniak, however, doesn't really see that location as a crucial part of Apple's history. "The garage is a bit of a myth," he told Bloomberg Businessweek's Brandon Lisy when asked whether the garage was important to Apple's story. "We did no designs there, no breadboarding, no prototyping, no planning of products. We did no manufacturing there." The garage served as a familiar location for him and Jobs in the early days, Wozniak said, but that's about it. "The garage didn't service much purpose, except it was something for us to feel was our home," he said. "We had no money. You have to work out of your home when you have no money.""

Comments

Re:Spirit

[Princeofcups]

You say "spirit," I say "myth."

The idea is indeed powerful stuff. It wouldn't be so inspiring to realize that Apple didn't pull itself up by the bootstraps from a garage and that the real brains of the operation got a pittance compared to the smooth-talking asshole boss. Who wants a STEM education now?

B.S. Woz and the original team were rewarded very well. However Woz wanted more spread around, so he gave various employees who he thought deserved more some of his shares. Sure Jobs and the board could have spread the wealth around more, but Woz in particular made a fortune.