Everyone knows the garage. You’ve seen the photos—two guys with long hair, surrounded by circuit boards and wooden boxes in Los Altos, California. But if you think the answer to who started Apple computers is just Steve Jobs, you're only getting about a third of the story.
It was April 1, 1976. April Fools' Day. Kind of fitting, honestly, considering most people in the industry thought the idea of a "personal computer" was a total joke. At the time, computers were giant, room-sized monoliths owned by governments and massive corporations. The idea that a regular person would want one on their desk was, well, weird.
But three men signed a contract that day. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
Wait, Ronald who?
Yeah, that’s usually the reaction. While Jobs became the face of the digital revolution and Wozniak became the engineering god of the Homebrew Computer Club, Ronald Wayne is the guy who famously sold his 10% stake for $800 just twelve days after the company formed. Today, that stake would be worth hundreds of billions. It’s the ultimate "what if" in business history. But to understand how Apple actually became Apple, you have to look past the trillion-dollar valuation and look at the messy, brilliant, and slightly desperate reality of 1976.
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The Brains: Steve Wozniak
If Woz hadn't been obsessed with long-distance "blue boxes" and arcade games, Apple wouldn't exist. Period. Steve Wozniak was the technical foundation. He wasn't trying to build an empire; he just wanted to show off his engineering chops to his friends.
He designed the Apple I because he wanted a computer that was easy to use. Before Woz, you had to toggle switches and read blinking lights. Wozniak realized that if you could hook a computer up to a television screen and use a keyboard, everything would change. He actually gave the schematics away for free at first. He didn't care about the money.
He's a purist.
Wozniak’s genius was in efficiency. He could do with 20 chips what other engineers needed 50 to accomplish. This wasn't just about being "smart." It was about cost. By making the hardware simpler, he made it affordable. When we ask who started Apple computers, Wozniak is the person who actually built the computer. Jobs couldn't code worth a lick and didn't know much about circuit design. But he knew Woz was a once-in-a-generation talent.
The Homebrew Catalyst
You can't talk about the start of Apple without mentioning the Homebrew Computer Club. This was a bunch of hobbyists meeting in a garage (there’s that word again) in Menlo Park. They were rebels. They hated the idea that IBM controlled all the information. Wozniak would bring his latest designs there, and the feedback from that community refined the Apple I.
It was a collaborative birth. Even though three guys signed the paper, the intellectual environment of Silicon Valley in the mid-70s was the actual womb.
The Vision: Steve Jobs
If Woz was the engine, Jobs was the driver who refused to follow the speed limit. Steve Jobs was 21. He was barefoot, rarely showered, and convinced he was right about everything.
He saw what Wozniak didn't.
While Woz was happy giving away designs, Jobs saw a product. He convinced Wozniak to stop giving it away and start selling the boards. He was the one who scrounged for parts, negotiated with the first computer stores like the Byte Shop, and created the "Apple" brand. Why "Apple"? Because he was on a fruitarian diet at the time and thought the name sounded "fun, spirited, and not intimidating." Plus, it came before "Atari" in the phone book.
Basically, he was a marketing genius before he even knew what marketing was.
Jobs was difficult. He was demanding. He notoriously pushed people to do things they thought were impossible. But without that friction, Wozniak would have likely stayed an engineer at Hewlett-Packard, and the Apple I would have been a forgotten footnote in a hobbyist newsletter. Jobs provided the "why."
He understood that people didn't want a "microcomputer." They wanted a tool that felt like a part of their lives.
The Forgotten Founder: Ronald Wayne
People love to make fun of Ronald Wayne. It’s easy to do. Who walks away from a 10% stake in the most successful company in history?
But you have to look at it from his perspective in 1976. Wayne was the "adult in the room." He was in his 40s. He had assets—a house, a car, savings. Jobs and Wozniak were "dirt poor," as Wayne later described them. Because Apple was a partnership, any debts the company incurred were the personal responsibility of all partners.
Jobs had just taken out a $15,000 loan to fill an order for the Byte Shop. If the company failed, the creditors wouldn't go after the two kids with nothing; they’d go after Wayne.
He didn't want the risk.
He wrote the original partnership agreement and the first manual for the Apple I. He even drew the original logo—a pen-and-ink drawing of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree. It looked like something out of a 19th-century textbook. It was beautiful, but totally wrong for a tech company. Jobs eventually replaced it with the rainbow apple we know today. Wayne left, took his $800, and later accepted another $1,500 to waive all future claims.
He says he doesn't regret it. He says he made the best decision with the information he had. Honestly, he probably would have been miserable working with the mercurial Steve Jobs for decades anyway.
Beyond the Trio: Mike Markkula
If you ask a tech historian who started Apple computers, they might give you a fourth name: Mike Markkula.
By 1977, Apple was a tiny operation. They needed money to build the Apple II, which was a massive leap forward. It had a plastic case! It had color graphics! It looked like a real appliance, not a science project.
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Markkula was a retired Intel executive. He was a millionaire at 32. He saw the Apple II and realized it was the future. He invested $250,000 of his own money and brought "grown-up" business sense to the table. He was the one who wrote the "Apple Marketing Philosophy," which focused on empathy, focus, and "imputing" (the idea that people judge a book by its cover, so the packaging must be perfect).
He was the first CEO. He gave the company the credit line it needed to manufacture at scale. Without Markkula, Apple might have stayed a boutique shop for nerds.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that Apple was an overnight success because of some magical "eureka" moment.
It was actually a series of pivots and lucky breaks.
- The Apple I was basically a kit. You had to provide your own keyboard, monitor, and even the wooden case.
- The Apple II was the real game-changer, but it needed a "killer app."
- That app was VisiCalc—the first spreadsheet program.
Suddenly, business people had a reason to buy an Apple. It wasn't just for games anymore. It was for accounting. This is a crucial point: the founders started the company, but the software developers saved it.
The Garage Myth
Even the garage story is a bit of a stretch. Wozniak has admitted in recent years that they didn't really "design" things in the garage. They didn't do much manufacturing there either. It was more of a base of operations—a place where they felt at home. But the "Garage Start-up" is such a powerful part of American lore that we lean into it. It represents the idea that anyone with a good idea and a soldering iron can take on the world.
Why It Still Matters Today
Apple’s founding reflects the perfect storm of three distinct personalities:
- The Engineer (Wozniak): Focused on the "how."
- The Visionary (Jobs): Focused on the "why."
- The Professional (Markkula/Wayne): Focused on the "how much."
When one of these is missing, companies usually fail. If you have only visionaries, you have a lot of big ideas that never work. If you have only engineers, you have great tech that nobody knows how to use.
What You Can Learn from Apple's Start
If you're looking to start your own venture or just understand the history of tech, there are a few "un-corporate" lessons here.
Don't wait for perfection. The Apple I was barely a computer. It was a circuit board. But they sold it anyway. They used the money from those sales to fund the Apple II.
Partnerships are about balance, not similarity. Jobs and Wozniak were opposites. They fought. They had different values. But those differences created a "third thing" that neither could have made alone.
Identify the "Adult in the Room." Every young startup needs someone who understands cash flow and legal liability. Whether that’s a mentor or a third partner, you need someone to make sure the lights stay on while the geniuses are dreaming.
Practical Next Steps for History Buffs
If you want to dive deeper into the actual documents and artifacts of Apple's founding, you don't have to rely on Hollywood movies (which often get the details wrong for the sake of drama).
- Visit the Computer History Museum: Located in Mountain View, CA, they have one of the few remaining original Apple I units and the original documents.
- Read "iWoz": Wozniak’s autobiography gives the most technical and honest account of how the hardware actually came together.
- Look up the Apple I Manual: You can find PDFs online. Look at the logo Ronald Wayne drew. It’s a trip to see how "non-Apple" the original branding was.
The story of who started Apple computers is really a story about the intersection of the counter-culture and the silicon-culture. It was a moment in time when two kids in a garage (mostly) could actually change the way the entire human race communicates.
It wasn't inevitable. It was actually highly unlikely. And that’s what makes it worth remembering.