Hewlett and Packard formalize their partnership and toss for the name
The two Stanford graduates had begun in a Palo Alto garage with $538. Their first product was an audio oscillator, and an early customer, Disney, wanted it changed
- Hewlett-Packard was founded on 1 January 1939 in Palo Alto, California
- Working capital at the start: $538 in cash and a used drill press
- First product: the 200A audio oscillator
- Disney ordered eight 200B oscillators for Fantasia
- Revenue in 1939: $5,369, with two employees
HP's archive calls the 200B “a custom-designed product” and says modified versions of the 200A went into production almost at the same time as the original, so the young company's catalog was shaped by what buyers asked for. The archive also records that the Disney relationship continued throughout Hewlett-Packard's history. On 19 May 1989 the garage was dedicated as a California state historic landmark and the ‘Birthplace of Silicon Valley’.
“because we thought the name would make us look like we'd been around for awhile”Dave Packard, co-founder, Hewlett-Packard
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard formalized their business partnership in Palo Alto, California, on 1 January 1939 and settled the company's name with a coin toss, according to HP's company history.
The pair had graduated as electrical engineers from Stanford University in 1934. Packard took a leave of absence from General Electric in Schenectady, New York, in 1938 and moved into the flat at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, while Hewlett rented the shed behind it. Stanford professor Fred Terman had encouraged them to start a business of their own. They began part-time work in the garage with $538 (£110 at the 1938 average exchange rate) in working capital, made up of cash and a used Sears-Roebuck drill press.
Their first product was the 200A, a resistance-capacitance audio oscillator used to test sound equipment. It grew out of Hewlett's study of negative feedback and used an incandescent bulb to provide variable resistance, which HP's history calls a breakthrough in oscillator design. Packard later explained where the model number came from.
Disney reviewed the 200A and asked for changes. The result was HP's second product, the 200B, and Disney ordered eight. Its engineers used them to test the channels, recording equipment and speakers in the 12 theaters equipped to show Fantasia in 1940, according to HP.
HP's history puts revenue for 1939 at $5,369 (£1,209 at that year's average rate), with two employees. In 1940 the company outgrew the garage and moved to a rented building at 481 Page Mill Road.
Sources
- HP, “HP timeline – 1930s”, HP History, accessed 28 October 2026. https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/timeline/hist_30s.html
- HP, “HP garage timeline”, HP History, accessed 28 October 2026. https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/garage/timeline.html
- Hewlett-Packard Company Archives, “A Deal with Disney: HP 200B Oscillator”, HPCA Archives Virtual Vault, accessed 28 October 2026. https://www.hewlettpackardhistory.com/item/a-deal-with-disney/
- Hewlett-Packard Company Archives, “Addison Avenue: The Garage”, HPCA Archives Virtual Vault, accessed 28 October 2026. https://www.hewlettpackardhistory.com/item/the-garage/
- Lawrence H. Officer, “Dollar-Pound Exchange Rate From 1791”, MeasuringWorth (1938: $4.89; 1939: $4.44), accessed 28 October 2026. https://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/exchangepound/result.php?year_source=1938&year_result=1940
