In 1975, a quiet, brilliant man named Steve Wozniak was working as a calculator engineer at Hewlett-Packard (HP).
Wozniak wasn’t just another employee.
He was grateful.
HP had given him his start.
Trained him. Paid his bills.
He believed in the company.
But Wozniak had a vision that was bigger than calculators.
Working late nights at HP, he built something radical.
a computer small enough and cheap enough for ordinary people to own.
It was called the Apple I. Inspired by his friend a one Steve Jobs
His dream? To put computing power in the hands of everyday people.
And because he was a loyal employee
when he had built something radical
something that could change the world
He offered it to HP the company that gave him life.
But when he pitched his ideas to HP,
they laughed.
“A toy.”
“Useless.”
“Why would the average person need a computer?”
HP executives dismissed him not once… not twice… but five times.
After the fifth rejection, his close friend, Steve Jobs, had enough.
“Let’s do it ourselves,” Jobs said.
That moment was the birth of Apple and the deàth of HP’s chance to lead a trillion-dollar industry.
So Steve Wozniak quit his job at HP to start Apple with his friend, Steve Jobs.
Before Apple, computers were for corporations and universities.
Big.
Expensive.
Complicated.
They filled rooms.
Cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Only experts could use them.
Regular people couldn’t touch them
let alone own one.
But Steve Wozniak dream.
A dream to make computers personal.
To bring them into people’s hands and homes.
Kept Him awake
By day, he worked at Hewlett-Packard (HP) as an engineer.
By night, he soldered and sketched in secret.
Building something incredible:
A compact, affordable machine called the Apple
I on a wooden board.
His friend Steve Jobs saw it and saw the future.
Jobs wasn’t the engineer.
He was the energy.
The salesman.
The believer.
He didn’t just see a circuit board.
He saw a product.
He saw possibility.
Something HP executives couldn’t see
So he made a bold pitch:
“Let’s sell it.
Let’s start a company. Let’s call it… Apple.”
Why Apple?
Because it was simple.
Jobs had spent time on a fruit farm.
And because, in his words, it sounded “fun, spirited, and not intimidating.”
So, the two of them sold what little they had
Wozniak sold his calculator,
Jobs sold his Volkswagen van, and they raised $1,300.
And got to work.
They assembled the first 50 computers made by Steve Wozniak in the Jobs family garage.
Jobs the salesman walked into a local computer store
The Byte Shop and convinced them to buy all 50…
before they were even built.
And they bought all.
That was the shift:
A passion project became a product.
A product became a company.
Apple Computer Inc. was born on April 1, 1976.
Suddenly, a hobby became a hustle.
But they weren’t done.
Wozniak built the Apple II a sleek, plastic-cased machine with color graphics, a keyboard, and expandable storage.
This wasn’t just for hobbyists anymore.
It was for schools, homes, offices, kids.
The Apple II didn’t just sell.
It exploded.
And in 1980, Apple went public at $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, HP, the company that rejected
Wozniak five times, was still building calculators and hardware peripherals.
They didn’t just miss a product.
They missed the personal computer revolution.
They missed the trillion-dollar wave that reshaped the planet.
What can we learn from Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and HP?
When you have a big idea, don’t wait for approval especially from those who cannot see the future you envision.
Steve Wozniak had a dream. Steve Jobs had the guts.
HP had the chance.
But they didn’t just reject the Apple I.
They rejected the future not once, but five times.
And where did that leave them?
Today, HP is still building hardware, printers, computers, parts with an estimated market cap of $28 billion.
Meanwhile, Apple is shaping culture, designing the future, and commanding a market cap of over $3 trillion.
All because two friends chose to believe in their dream rather than settle for permission.
Here are the lessons:
– Don’t beg for vision from the blind.
– If they reject your idea, it may not mean it’s
bad it may mean it’s too early for them.
– Visionaries don’t wait. They build.
– Sometimes, rejection is just redirection
to something greater.
– Never underestimate a garage, a dream, and two friends with conviction.
Somewhere right now, someone is being told “no.” I hope they read this story and push on..
#TechStory
#Apple
#HP
#SteveWozniak
#SteveJobs
Ifeanyi Christopher ©️
