Wikipedia defines a garage as part of a home, or assembled building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles.
A quick look around The Startup Garage headquarters in San Diego, and you’ll notice there are no vehicles or automobiles in sight.
Inspired by to the founders of Google, Amazon, and Apple (and perhaps even you) our garage is part of a house, designed or used to help reinvent the way we do business.
The Garage-Era’s roots extend back to 1938, when technology pioneers David Packard and William Hewlett, better know as Hewlett-Packard /HP, started the HP workshop at 367 Addison Ave. in Palo Alto, CA. In 1989, the garage was made a California historical landmark and deemed the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
Wherever your business and garage may be located, here are seven reasons why creative and ambitious entrepreneurs start enterprises in a garage:
1. Establishing a Startup
Starting in a garage means financial savings. The overhead of an office space can weigh heavy on the wallet. Keeping expenses at a low and investing funds, rather than spending, is critical when building a business.
Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, know best.
In September 1998, the graduates of Stanford University developed the site in a garage owned by Susan Wojcicki.
She leased her garage to the two for $1,700 for 5 months.
2. Garage/Home Combination
Typically a garage is attached to home, hopefully one that is inviting and easily accessible to the entrepreneur. The garage/home combination embraces the “comforts of home.”
Ideally, allowing for an efficient work commute, freshly made lunches, and the reassurance of knowing you no longer need to worry about forgetting something at home.
3. Privacy
A garage is located on private property, providing less public access, and more security for budding ideas and knowledge to bloom.
4. Prototypes
A garage invites experimentation. The openness of space allows for building, construction, and the development of product prototypes.
In 1976 Steve Jobs. Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne did exactly that, in a small garage in California they created the very first prototype for a personal computer, better known as Apple.
5. Mindset
A garage evokes a mechanics mindset.
There’s an innate psychological pull when you’re in a garage to piece together, fix, and tinker with things. The garage becomes a laboratory for billion dollar ideas and tech gadgets.
In 1994, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, followed the steps of HP and Apple entrepreneurs, and started an online bookstore completely operated in his garage in Washington. Bezos’s idea, now yields nearly $67.8 billion dollars in annual sales.
6. The “American Dream”
We all love a rags to riches story.
Starting a business in a garage opens the doors to endless characters, storylines, and possibilities.
Take classic American carmaker, Cadillac’s approach in this viral video
Some of the most remarkable innovations in the world have come out of American garages. From The birth of flight, to the all new Motor Trend Car of the Year, the Cadillac CTS.
Ain’t garages great?
7. Resourcefulness
The question remains, is storing a vehicle or miscellaneous “junk” in a garage, more valuable than letting entrepreneurial spirits flourish with in that space?
Were Paul Allen and Bill Gates being resourceful in 1975?
It was then that now tech giants tried their luck in building Microsoft in a small-space garage with very mere resources to start with. Ultimately, we’re not suggesting that a garage is the only place innovative ideas can come to fruition. Sparks of genius and creativity can happen anywhere at anytime.
We simply encourage you to find an environment that supports and nourishes your entrepreneurial vision. And welcome you to #TheStartupGarage our home designed to accelerate technology innovation for the entrepreneur in all of us.
If you have a question about your Startup business idea or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!
1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garage
2 https://www.hpmuseum.org/garage/garage.htm
