To finance their venture, Jobs sold his Volkswagen van and Wozniak sold his programmable calculator to raise $1,300. Weeks later, Jobs secured the company's first sale: 50 Apple I computers at $666 each. In a mere six years, Apple was listed in the Fortune 500, becoming the youngest firm on this prestigious list.

RELATED INFORMATION:
The Entrepreneur    from The Great Idea Finder
Invention of the Personal Computer   from The Great Idea Finder
Steve Jobs Biography     from The Great Idea Finder
History of Computing    from The Great Idea Finder

ON THE BOOKSHELF:
iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It
by Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith  / Hardcover: 288 pages / W. W. Norton (September 25, 2006)
In 1975, a young engineering wizard named Steve Wozniak had an idea: What if you combined computer circuitry with a regular typewriter keyboard and a video screen? The result was the first true personal computer, the Apple I, a widely affordable machine that anyone could understand and figure out how to use.
Steve Wozniak, Inventor of the Apple Computer
by Martha E. Kendall / Paperback: 112 pages / Highland Pub Group, 2nd Rev edition (2000)
Provides detailed information about his early years, his collaboration with Steve Jobs and the creation of the first Apple computers in Jobs' garage, Wozniak's decision to "retire" from Apple, his philanthropy, and his many hobbies.
Stephen Wozniak and the Story of Apple Computer
by John Riddle, Jim Whiting / Library Binding: 48 pages / Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc.( 2001)
Apple Computer grew quickly from those first days in Jobs' garage to a very large company that neither man had envisioned. Woz was largely credited for the successful Apple II. At some point in time, the job stopped being fun and in 1985, Woz left Apple Computer for good.
Steve Wozniak: A Wizard Called Woz
by Rebecca Gold / Library Binding: 72 pages / Lerner Publications Company (September 1994)
The technical information about the inside workings of a computer is written simply enough for even a computer-illiterate youngster, and the upbeat and readable text is accompanied by appealing full-color and black-and-white photographs.
Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
by Paul Freiberger, Michael Swaine / Paperback: 463 pages / McGraw Hill Text 2nd edition (1999)
What sets Fire in the Valley apart from the many other books about early days at Apple and Microsoft, though, is its focus on the brilliant engineers and coders who built the foundation that would eventually support those two companies.


ON THE WEB:
National Inventors Hall of Fame
Steve Wozniak was inducted in 2000 for Microcomputer for Use with Video Display Personal Computer (Patent Number 4,136,359).
URL: www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/155.html)
Invention Dimension - Inventor of the Week
Steve Woznaik was featured June, 1996 for his invention of the Personal Computer.
(URL: web.mit.edu/invent/iow/apple.html)
An interview by the Tech Museum of Innovation
Pretty much my teaching is just a hobby to teach them the guts and the innards of computers - not the normal things that you would call computer literacy.
(URL: www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/revolution/wozniak/i_a.html)
Steve Woznaik
Official Web site for "WOZ" information. Links to everything.
(URL: www.woz.org/)
Wozniak Biography
Believe in encouraging free thinking and creativity for youngsters, counsel them against forces of conformity and drugs which leave them "not the master" of their fate.
(URL: www.woz.org/wozscape/wozbio.html)
WIZARD OF WOZ
Apple's Steve Wozniak is reprogrammed--as a grade-school teacher. Article from People Magazine, Pages 61-62, February 14, 1994
(URL: www.woz.org/pages/wozscape/Articles/WizardofWoz/WizardofWoz.html)
Steve Wozniak Launches New Technology Venture
Los Gatos, California, January 23, 2002- Steve Wozniak, the technical visionary and co-founder of Apple Computer, announced today the launch of Wheels of Zeus (wOz), a new company focused on designing new consumer electronics wireless products to help everyday people track everyday things.
(URL: www.woz.com/press/012302.html)
Interview with Slashdot
If you consider attractiveness and other external qualities, you can't find any hardware that comes close to Apple's.
(URL: slashdot.org/interviews/00/01/07/1124211.shtml)

WORDS OF WISDOM:
"Even if we lose our money, at least we had a company." - Steve Woznaik

"I also like to ride Segways. How much fun that is! Anybody think that's fun? I hope so... There's an awful lot of people in the world that sneer at Segways because other people are having fun. There must be something bad about it. But I always tell people, that hey, these Segways are so environmentally conscious. I carry four of them in the trunk of my Hummer." - Steve Woznaik, 2004

DID YOU KNOW?

• Steve was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States in 1985, the highest honor bestowed America's leading innovators.
• In 2000 Steve was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for Technology,
• One of Woznaik's companies is named AppleSauce
• On January 23, 1979, patent # 4,136,359 issued to Steve Wozniak for a microcomputer