Garages and garden sheds have done more than just provide a place of safekeeping for storage and garden ornaments over the years. Some of the world’s largest companies had their humble beginnings in a garden shed, birthing ideas and products that would go on to shape the course of the future. Today, Harrow Fencing are going to delve into these stories and explore how just a few entrepreneurs went from garden shed to the global market.
Apple
Apple’s beginnings have been unveiled countless times thanks to the many Steve Jobs biopics to hit the big screen in recent years. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, dubbed ‘The Steves’, began their company making home computers out of a shed in California. After completing some of their very first computers, the Steves and Apple began their conquest of their consumer market. Apple is now one of the most, if not the most, recognised brands in the world.
The famed spot where Apple’s operations first began is now designated as a historic site and local tourist attraction. Many people visit the spot each year to take photos and witness where one of the world’s greatest tech companies once resided.
Disney
In 1923, Roy and his brother Walt Disney moved into a garden shed with their uncle. It was here that they established “The First Disney Studio”, a much more modest office than their current 51-acre studio in Burbank, California. It was in this shed that the trio began filming the Alice Comedies which was a part of the original Alice’s Wonderland.
Harley Davidson
Some people store their motorbikes in a shed. Others create the world’s most successful motorbiking company in them. That’s exactly what William S. Harley started doing when both he and his friend Arthur Davidson began developing small engines and motor-powered bicycles in a friend’s garden shed.
The shed famously had the words ‘Harley Davidson Motor Co.’ sloppily scrawled across the rickety wooden door. Fast-forward over a century and the globally-recognised Harley Davidson logo now sits at the front of Harley Davidson’s huge headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Incredibly, the current corporate headquarters stand on the site where the first factory was built in the backyard of the William C. Davidson family home.
HP
Many people take $538 and spend it on a weekend break or new games console. For Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, they took a $538 dollar investment and started a billion dollar company from the confines of a garden shed. It was here that the duo developed their first product, an audio oscillator, one of which was bought by Walt Disney!
HP has progressed immensely since the shed days of 1939. They now turn over multiple billions of dollars in revenue every year and operate out of an expansive headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Here at Harrow Fencing, we pride ourselves on our garden sheds. We offer sheds in a wide variety of styles, size and timber grades, but ensure that each and every one is built with exceptionally high levels of craftsmanship. All our sheds are built to resist weathering and provide ample space, making them perfect for storing possessions and sparking genius ideas.
To enquire about our garden sheds, or any of the extensive products and services we offer customers throughout Harrow, Hillingdon and the surrounding London areas, contact us today.
