WEBVTT - The HP Story: Part One 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.880 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.800 tech Stuff from how stuff dot com. Hello everyone, and 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.239 welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.119 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.239 Sitting across from me as a guy who likes to 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:28.840 embed Easter eggs and all his articles, Senior writer Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:36.000 A screaming comes across the sky. Wow, thank you. That's significant. Yes, uh, 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:38.320 not for what we're talking about, really, but I like 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:42.080 the quote. Yes. Today we are doing part one of 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.320 a multi part series on a company that has had 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:50.000 a massive influence on the world of technology, Hewlett Packard, 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:55.960 and massive influence on American business as well. I mean, really, 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:00.280 there without HP, there's not really a silicon valley. No. 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.880 HP was kind of the the kernel that would grow 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.480 into the glorious crop that is silicon value. And my 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:12.080 metaphors are terrible today, thanks, but anyway, yeah, HP is 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.160 kind of it's one of those companies that really is 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:16.800 the foundation for what we think of a silicon valley, 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.880 even though you might not necessarily think of HP as 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.680 an innovator, like the people who created the integrated circuit 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.000 or you know, it's not like it's Bell Labs or 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:30.160 Texas Instruments even, but they were very good. It's a 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:35.720 company that's very good at creating technologies that were priced lower, 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.600 more efficient than other companies, and so really kind of 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:44.640 propelled the electronics industry into the mainstream. Yeah. And in 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:49.840 a lot of ways, their innovations came from UM products 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.960 that used those devices, transistors and a lot of the 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:58.000 other uh devices that we've talked about for other companies 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:02.440 that have have been innovators and technology. UM. But it's 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:04.480 funny because this is a this is a company where 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.680 two guys met on a camping trip and ended up 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:11.480 building a company based on negative feedback. Yeah, that's funny. 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:13.799 Funny you should say it that way. Yeah, So, um, 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:15.960 let's let's say that. Well, let's set the scene a 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.799 little bit. So, So in nineteen twenty nine, there was 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.919 a little event where some stocks took a little dip 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:30.880 and plunge the world into poverty and economic chaos. Yeah, 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.320 it was. It was a depression that was so incredible. 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:38.600 It was great, the Great Depression. I the people who 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.720 lived through it wasn't so great for them. But yeah, 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.360 the Great Depression hits nineteen nine, and really the world 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.840 is in recovery all through the nineteen thirties. You know, 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:53.280 it's it's not something that the world just bounces back from. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:59.960 But in the mid thirties, two Stanford University students met, 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.560 as you said, on a camping trip, but which I 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:06.480 think it's fascinating. Yeah, but these guys were both attending 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.520 Stanford University and the pursuing degrees in electrical engineering, and 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:15.680 it was William Bill, Reddington Hewlett and Dave Packard. Yeah, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.560 keeping in mind too, we're we're talking about the late 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:22.600 nineteen twenties and early nineteen thirties. UM. Regular listeners of 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:26.480 tech stuff will remember our conversations about a C versus 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.520 d C back UM in in you know, within that 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.440 we're talking within fifty years of places getting wired. So 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.240 these guys are really kind of still on the cutting 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.080 edge of electricity. This is the point where people are 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.600 studying electrical engineering. So they're you know, they're they're getting 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.800 in on the beginnings of UM a brand new type 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.520 of industry for the for the United States and in 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.880 the world. And so they both graduate in nine with 0:03:55.960 --> 0:04:01.080 undergraduate degrees, but Hewlett was suing his work. He was 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:05.640 actually pursuing a master's degree in electrical engineering, and as 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.520 part of his thesis, he began to work on a 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.760 prototype of a device called an audio oscillator. And here's 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:16.600 where negative feedback comes in. Yeah, because one of one 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:21.560 of his mentors was very interested in this work and 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.560 was kind of taking a shine. Actually he kind of 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.880 took a shine to both of these lads back in 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.720 the day. But yeah, So the oscillator, in case you're 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.080 wondering what it's supposed to do, it actually creates a 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.560 steady specific tone and you can choose various tones depending 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:40.359 upon the oscillator. It's not like if it's not like 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.000 if it's not a machine that only goes deep. No, 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.920 but it allows you to create a steady specific tone. 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:51.000 And it's really used as a measurement devices to help 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.400 try and test other devices. And for a long time 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.960 that's what he Hewlett Packard the company was known for producing. 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.600 It wasn't known for produce saying devices that the average 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.800 person would find useful. It was producing devices that industries 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.320 were using to test their own equipment so that their 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.800 equipment was you know, properly running. Yeah, HP, I would 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.920 I would argue that HP was a business to business company, 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.920 not completely, but for the most part up until the 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.680 late twentieth century. Yeah. Yeah, So this oscillator, Uh, this 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:32.080 prototype that that Hewlett creates ends up being a pretty 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:36.359 useful design, and it forms the basis of what would 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.919 become HP's first product. Now it didn't HP did not 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.960 exist as a company yet, but when Hewlett had created 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.960 this prototype, which later would become the Model two hundred A. 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.160 And by the way, the reason why it was called 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.880 the Model two A was to sort of give companies 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.760 the idea that Hewlett Packard had been around as its 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:01.800 own entity for a while, sort of like when you 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:03.520 start a new checking account and they ask you if 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:05.359 you want your checks to be numbered at a different 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.160 number so it looks like your accounts older than it 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.560 actually is. Or when you form a band and your 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.960 first album is called Greatest Hits. Yes, yes, that would 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.960 be the idea. Uh, don't you know, I know that 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:17.920 there are bands who have done that. I was gonna say, 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.000 don't steal that, but technically I guess I stole it. 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:24.480 So anyway, so Hewlett creates this prototype and during this 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.640 process before there's actually a company, Um, a Disney engineer 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.440 saw the prototype the two what what would become the 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.000 two hundred day and the Disney engineer was working on 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.960 a little movie called Fantasia. Yes, we've talked about that too, 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.120 about the cents around system. Yeah, it was definitely a 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:48.159 big player in changing the way movie theaters are designed. Really, 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.520 I mean, to to truly show Fantasia in the way 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.120 that it was meant to be shown, theaters were going 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.640 to have to spend thousands of dollars renovating and changing 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:01.599 out their systems. In fact, very few theaters in the 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.040 grand scheme of things actually followed through on this, but 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:09.479 it did help push through the whole surround sound era. Anyway, 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:15.080 the engineer saw potential uses for this oscillator, but not 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.640 exactly in the form factor that it was in uh 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:24.280 in eight, So he made some suggestions to to Hewlett 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.440 about how to change that, and so Hewlett then went 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.800 to work on that and would sell in nineteen nine 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:36.560 eight model two hundred B oscillators for the princely sum 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.960 of seventy one dollar and fifty cents each. There was 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:41.920 a lot of money back down. Yeah, that that totaled 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.680 out to be five and seventy two dollars. Well, that's 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:50.280 important because in nineteen nine, did you have something else? Well, 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.360 I I have a couple of bits that actually go 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.280 back before that. Oh well, then we're gonna have to backtrack. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.160 Well just just just a tad um to nine ten 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.760 o five actually, because this is sort of relevant, but 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:05.920 it's not. I think this is one of the fascinating 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.200 things about HP because the thing I'm going to talk 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:12.120 about is sort of legendary and HP lore. It's a 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:17.200 house built at three sixties seven Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California. 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.360 Um The residents there are Dr John Spencer and his 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:23.920 wife and two adult daughters. As a matter of fact, 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.040 he was the first mayor of Palo Alto. But um 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.840 actually divided the house in eighteen into two apartments. And uh, 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.840 if you look at the Sandborn Insurance maps in nineteen 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:38.440 twenty four, there's a twelve by eighteen foot garage that 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.880 appears on the property. The garage is what I would 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.559 call a shock Ye look at a picture of it. 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.080 It looks like a little bitty shack. Yes, yes, so 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:53.880 in ms love shack in thirty five, Dave Packard moved 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:58.400 to Schenectady, New York to work at ge UM see 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.600 again one of the early electrical aniers UM. And Bill 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.199 finished his graduate work at at Stanford UM and then 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.560 went to m I T returned to Palo Alto, and 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.920 then that's where they you know that, that's where they 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.080 ended up living, was in that house because they had 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.440 their first business meeting uh in seven he uh Dave 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.920 was still working at ge at the time, and uh 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.480 Bill convinced him, hey, let's make a go for this. 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.680 And Fred Turman, who was the professor at Stanford, who 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.959 had sort of taken a shine to them, was the 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:34.360 one who made a suggestion that maybe just maybe they 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.400 should uh use this create this device, the oscillatory you 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:42.360 were talking about to detect negative feedback. UM. So yeah, 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.760 in thirty nine, that's when on January one, as a 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:49.040 matter of fact, that's when they formalized their partnership. They 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.960 decided they were going to go and make a company. 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.240 And I love the way they decided to choose a name, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.000 Heads or Tails. Now we're not kidding, that's really how 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.120 they decided who's aime was going to be first. It 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.320 was a coin Flip and Packard one, and yet he 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.680 chose Hewlett Packard as the name. Well I'm glad he 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.600 did because HP we know of as HP. But if 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.280 it had ended up being pH wonder which one of 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:17.280 them was more acidic, or that's a very base company, 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.160 or maybe people would talk about their stock and say, yeah, 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.000 it's neutral. Yeah, there's a lot of jokes that we 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:28.480 could make. Yeah, HP is an iconic now, yes, and 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:33.680 then I think they accidentally chose wisely. So they formed 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:38.439 this company January one, nine and they the company is 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.720 is essentially operating out of that little garage. Well that's 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.760 actually where Bill had been living, except in nine he 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:49.880 married Flora, his wife, and then moved out. Yeah, which 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.040 which was good because they needed a business office. Now 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.319 do you know how much money they spent to form 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:57.760 this company? Well, I know, I know how much money 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.920 they had. Well I know the asset, Yes, the assets 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:05.959 to the company that was in cash, five hundred thirty 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.240 eight dollars in cash and a used drill press, used 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.840 Craftsman drill press, by the way, interesting that somebody had 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.480 documented if you're wondering what that is in today's dollars, 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:21.080 eight thousand three hundred fifty four dollars, not exactly princely 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:27.679 Some to found what would become a multinational, multibillion dollar company. 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.040 You know, for those of you keeping score on the 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:32.880 Tech Stuff scorecard. That is the second time he's used 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.040 the term Princely Some in this podcast. Yeah. Well, the 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.800 five hundred and seventy two dollars that they had made 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:43.240 from Disney was more than what their starting capital was. 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.199 So they're doing pretty well. Yeah, they're they were profitable 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.800 early on anyway. Um so, yeah, so nine thirty nine 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.000 they formed this company. They've flipped the kay and they 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.559 figured out what they're calling themselves, and they officially start 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.800 to market the Model two hundred a oscillator, which was 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.800 based on that prototype that Hewlett had built in his 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:08.360 master's thesis. They had. They did pretty well pretty quickly 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.360 because they were able to move out of the garage. Yeah. Yeah, 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.679 by the by the time nine ends, their revenue is 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.160 five thousand, three d sixty nine dollars and they have 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:21.760 two employees. Hey, but then in nineteen forty they move 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.840 into a least building. They don't own the building, they're 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:29.679 still leasing space, but they're able to expand outside of 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:34.920 the garage, and in nineteen forty they do something spectacular. 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.240 Are you talking about the the this is the business 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:44.480 leadership party bonuses Christmas bonus to their employees, which that 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:50.440 that was the princely sum drink of five dollars. But 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:55.560 again five dollars wasn't that wasn't small at that point. 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.840 And they also adopted production bonuses too. They didn't have 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.160 too many employees. It wasn't it wasn't a huge investment, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.920 but it was. It does show an early example of 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.720 what the founders thought was important when they were forming 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.600 a company. They really this was an era. It's it's 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:13.880 easy to forget today, right, but this was an era 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.840 where the idea of company loyalty was a big deal, 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.319 especially because you're talking about after the Great Depression, where 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.040 things were so uncertain for so long. It was very 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:28.000 important for companies to establish themselves as being reliable, as 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:33.079 being stable, and as being it was a two way street. 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.840 You know, employees would contribute their work and their efforts 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.440 for the success of the company, and the company in 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.160 turn would look after the employees and so not to 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.319 make to say that everything every company did back then 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.240 was good, but it was a different world. Than it 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.359 is today. Today, you might see someone with an engineering 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.640 degree hop around quite a bit from company to company 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:01.000 as they find the best the best deal for themselves personally. Well, 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.479 this was a different era where you know, you you 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.600 you got hired by a company and you tended to 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:09.160 stay there. Yeah, well you were kind of expected to 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.200 stay there, you know. Well, Plus, you know, thinking again 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:15.000 about the times economic times, this was fresh after the 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.000 Great Depression. The company was still uh it was hot 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.120 on the heels of the recovery period or in the 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.280 recovery period really, so you were kind of lucky to 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.640 have a job. So they didn't have to do this, 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.760 but they did anyway. And they also offered the company's 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.840 first charitable donation, which was again the princely sum of 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:38.480 five dollars four times uh so. Yeah, And and the 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.720 way that they were able to be so successful so 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:46.080 early on lay in Hewlett's design of these oscillators. Now, 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.160 the oscillators that were on the market already before HP 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.720 had formed were often sold for between two hundred and 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:58.240 six hundred dollars uh, and Hewlett was able to create 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.920 more efficient ways of of building these devices using cheaper 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.080 materials and uh and even make them more reliable. So 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.960 they weren't just less expensive to create, but they were 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.680 better oscillators than a lot of the ones that were 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:15.920 on the market already. His two a oscillator was sold 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.960 for fifty four dollars and forty cents, which was a 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.480 price apparently chosen because they liked the slogan fifty four 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:28.120 forty or fight that's true, which is you know, this 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.280 tells you something about the founders of HP, where they 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.880 settle on the price for their for their products based 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:39.360 upon popular slogans from the nineteenth century. That's okay with me. 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.080 I always like the quirky companies. Yeah, you know, I 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.680 gotta say that this whole oscillator thing I keep going 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:49.400 back and forth on. So let's analyze some waves, shall we. 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.960 Well there was an interesting wave um. Of course. One 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.200 was the year that the United States entered World War 0:15:56.240 --> 0:16:00.440 Two after the bombing of Pearl Harbor um and as 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.760 a matter of fact, Bill decided to leave the company 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.240 for a while. He served as an army officer until 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.640 nineteen seven. So Dave took over and said, all right, well, 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:11.720 I'll leave the company until you come back, right, And 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.880 he did, and that in ninety one was also when 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:19.000 HP began the production of the three hundred A, which 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:24.560 was a wave analyzer sound it's was made for UM 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:29.680 measuring amplifiers. And then there was also a a volt 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:34.120 meter that Packard designed in nineteen forty one. In ninety 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.120 two that would start that would be sold as the 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:41.920 four hundred A. So again these one thing I would 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:46.800 I would uh scream out to to the the time 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:51.640 Vortex would be for Hewlett and Packard to name their 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.240 products something other than numbers and then a letter because 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.160 it's very confusing to me. But yes, the three d 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:00.480 A is a wave analyzer, the four hunt A is 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:07.760 a voultmeter. And then in n HP does another jump 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.720 in in the way of a company looking after its employees. Yes, 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:17.200 it introduces health insurance for employees. It's not the only 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:21.160 company to do this, but it's one of the earliest ones. Yeah. Yeah. 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:23.919 As a matter of fact, they started building the first 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:28.680 HP owned building. So we're looking now at just a 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:32.640 couple of years after the company got on its feet. Um, 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.480 it's able to construct its own building, and they decided 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:40.480 they wanted the floor pant plan to be wide open. Um. 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:42.760 You know, it was supposed to be versatile. That's that's 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:44.879 kind of a practicality part of it. But as it 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.600 turns out, it was also and also made it easier 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:51.600 for the company employees to share ideas and come up 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:56.080 with with new new kinds of concepts and new new products. Yea, 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.600 so this is a moving away from the old. Everyone 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.920 has their own office model and at this point everyone 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:06.760 is eight employees. Well, you know, it's still kind of tiny. 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:11.240 It is kind of tiny. Okay. So in three h 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.399 HP got into microwaves, and we're not talking about cooking, 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.480 we're talking about again making products for other businesses that 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:22.720 use microwaves. So they were getting into signal generators. So, 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.800 which is not something that you are I typically use 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.480 as part of our day to day stuff, but not 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:30.000 typically No once you know, once in a blue moon, 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.000 Well only when you need to generate signals. I'm pretty 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.960 good at generating signals. Yeah, we can't stop the signal. 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:43.800 So anyway, so in the the owner of the house, 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:50.000 um was who which with bead dead. Let's turn this over. 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.600 The owner of the house with the garage left Palo 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:59.280 Alto um and when when she did, uh, the subsequent 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.639 owners of the house continue to lease it out as 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.280 apartments and even the garage to um. But we'll come 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.880 back to this, believe it or not, because the uh, 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.000 the house in the garage will factor into the history 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:16.520 of Palo Alto pretty significantly. Yeah. So August eighteen, n 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:23.080 HP incorporates and Packard becomes the president of the company 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:25.560 and Hewlett is the vice president of the company. And 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.480 in that year the company generates eight hundred fifty one thousand, 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.800 two hundred seven dollars in revenue and has one hundred 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.560 eleven employees. So that's a pretty big jump. You know, 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.200 this is still it's not even a decade old yet 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:43.480 and uh, and it's doing quite well. Um. The the 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:48.119 electronics industry is blossoming right now. This is still early 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.639 days for electronics, keep in mind. Yeah, and so Hewlett 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:54.240 Packards really on the cutting edge when it comes to 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:59.120 creating electronic devices, specifically for other companies to help test 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:02.080 their own equipment. Yep, yep, it's funny. I have a 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.359 quote from Bill Hewlett that I got from the Hewlett 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:10.399 Packard UH company timeline. Um. He said, quote, we just 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.200 happened to be on the top of the rocket when 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:14.520 it took off. We were here with electronic products. When 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.199 electronics became a big thing, we went up with it. 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:19.720 We don't deserve one damn bit of credit for the 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:23.240 success of Hewlett Packard and quote right, um So, his 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.639 point being that it was the right place at the 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.000 right time, and anyone who had done that would have 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.679 been successful. Although I think that's definitely a lot of 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.800 modesty on his part. I think so too. Um. I 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.800 think both of these guys obviously show a lot of 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.000 um courage and willing to take a risk on a 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:45.560 fairly new uh market. I think they also show a 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:49.560 lot of creativity and leadership. Yeah. The fact that you know, 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.960 you've got to remember both of them were both of 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.560 them were engineers. Yes, so they came at this, they 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.680 created this company from the perspective of engineers. They were 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.720 not like business you know, students who let's come up 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.240 with a company, what will it be about? Right exactly. 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.040 These were guys who were problem solvers and then they 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:11.919 built a company around that. And not that doesn't always 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.199 work because the skill set to run a company and 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:19.439 the skill set to be an engineer don't always overlap completely. 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:22.679 Uh So, the fact that they were able to create 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.000 this and make it work. That says a lot to 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:27.159 their abilities. I think I think again that he was 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.120 being quite modest with that that quote. I agree, So 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.800 I just think it's funny that it shows this that 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.960 you know their pluck and their their attitude behind the 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:39.919 company right right, And you know what is important for 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:43.720 us to focus on what their philosophy, you know, how 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.479 how they felt about things, because that's gonna play an 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:49.959 important role when we talk about HP the company as 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.480 it is today, because there are a lot of things 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:55.199 that you can point to where you know, you're like, 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.399 how did the company that was this become the company 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:01.800 that is this? It's not always positive or negative, but 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:06.720 there are some significant differences. So in ninety HP produced 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:13.680 the four B voltmeter. So still not anything that consumers 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.800 would necessarily ever see. But um, the next thing I 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:21.879 have is in nineteen fifty one, do you have anything before? Um? No, 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.880 but just a general note from again from HPS. Overall 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:29.159 timeline that uh, Palo Alto and and the time that 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:32.600 they started this company was still fairly small. Of course, 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:35.800 you know, Stanford is a very big university at least now, 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:40.919 but I mean physically, um, but Palo Alto was was 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:43.879 kind of a small ish town. And uh, this is 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:47.160 right about the time in the nineteen fifties that Hewlett Packard, 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:51.959 the company says that the city really started to boom 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:54.439 in size. A lot of people started moving there, and 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:59.040 a lot of people became interested in these fields electronics 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:04.480 and well early computing technology, business machines. I would say 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:07.200 at this point, um, and so it became a place 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:09.240 to be. And I would argue again that this is 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.679 partly due to the success of Hewlett Packard, because I'm 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:16.040 sure people were watching. Yeah, and uh, I went in 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:18.320 on that how do I get to be a famous engineer? 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:19.840 Will you need to be in one of these companies 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:23.440 like Hewlett Packard, because these guys are cutting edge? Yeah, 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.280 and uh. In nineteen fifty one, they invent the company 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:33.120 invents the high speed frequency counter, which counts frequencies. It's 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:34.960 you say that like it's a bad thing. The model 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:38.080 is five to four A. Yeah, and actually it reduced 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:41.360 the amount of time needed to measure very high frequencies. 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:45.960 So it was again a useful device for other companies. UM. 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:49.240 And two, it introduced the two hundred A B and 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:54.119 two hundred C D audio oscillators. Now, these oscillators replaced 0:23:54.240 --> 0:23:58.119 older oscillators in the the HP line, like the two 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:00.240 and the two hundred B that we talked about, the 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:04.240 ones that were introduced back in nineteen nine and nineteen Uh, 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:08.560 those have been discontinued. They were they were outdated, and 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.240 so the two and two c D were meant to 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:16.600 too solve the same problems as the two, but they 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:21.080 were both more versatile than the earlier models and more sophisticated. 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:23.760 So it kind of shows that HP was sticking with 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:26.920