Silicon Valley Facts

Hewlett Packard was started at a garage in Palo Alto in 1939.

The co-founder and CEO of SnapChat, 23-year-old Evan Spiegel, turned down an offer of $3 billion from Facebook and then a $4 billion bid from Google.

In 2009, Brian Acton applied to work at Facebook and was rejected. He also applied to Twitter and was turned down. He tweeted about both rejections. Then he co-founded WhatsApp with Jan Koum. In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for approximately $19 billion — making Acton a billionaire and turning his rejection into one of the most expensive hiring mistakes in corporate history.

Some tech CEOs intentionally use the same outfit every day—like Steve Jobs’ black turtleneck—not out of laziness, but to minimize decision fatigue and boost creativity.

Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and later said it was 90 days from going bankrupt. He struck a deal with Apple's biggest rival - Microsoft - to survive: they invested $150 million in non-voting preferred Apple stock. When Jobs announced it at Macworld Boston, Bill Gates appeared live via satellite on a giant screen above the stage. The crowd booed. Jobs later called it his worst staging mistake ever.