Hewlett-Packard is another storybook, “it all started in a garage” tale that sounds, at first blush, to be impossible. After starting the company in 1939 with a mere $538 (you read that right, five hundred and thirty eight dollars., the hardworking pair patiently build their fledgling startup into the personal computing behemoth it is today. By 1959, the company had gone public, eventually narrowing their focus from a broad range of electronic products onto semiconductors. Today, HP is a household name with $107 billion in 2007 revenue.