April 1, 1976: Apple Is Born

When Steve Wozniak finished developing the Apple I he planned to give away the schematics for free. Steve Jobs persuaded Woz that they could sell the plans to someone. The “someone” they had in mind was either Atari, where Jobs worked, or Hewlett-Packard where Woz worked. Both companies declined.

Refusing to be bowed by the rejection the two decided, at Jobs' urging, to go it alone. To raise capital Jobs sold his van and Woz sold his calculator. The sale of the treasured goods netted proceeds of $1,750. Steve Jobs came up with the name Apple Computer and the company was born.

Soon a problem arose. With each Steve in control of exactly 50% of the company, there would be no way to breach an impasse if one develop between the co-owners. To solve this problem they recruited Ron Wayne, head draftsman at Atari, to join Apple as a cofounder and 10% owner. Not only did Ron's presence provide a tie-breaker in case one was needed, he also drew Apple's original (and underappreciated) logo. The three filed the necessary papers to form a partnership on April 1, 1976.