Some of the greatest companies in tech were started, or funded, during a recession. A number of people I know are starting companies today despite the economic times. Others are holding back, worried that a great company can not get up and running during a recession. Evidence to the contrary below :-) (in no particular order)
- Cisco Systems. Funded 2 weeks after "Black October" market crash, 1987. As the global leader in networking gear, Cisco posted 2008 revenue of $39 billion.
- Wikipedia was started in January 2001 (during the dot com bust). Now the #8 most trafficked website on the planet according to Alexa.
- HP. Hewlett Packard was founded in 1939 - right as the US was transitioning out of the Great Depression due to WWII. HP now operates in most countries worldwide and generated almost $92 billion in revenue in 2006.
- Sun Microsystems. Founded in February 1982, Sun Microsystems was born in the recession of the early 1980s.
- General Electric. A cutting edge technology company of its day ("there is this magic thing called 'electricity'") GE was started in 1876 during the "panic of 1873" (which, despite its name was actually a 6 year downturn lasting through 1879).
- Amgen. The world's biggest biotech and maker of EPO was founded during the recession of 1980.
- Fairchild Semiconductor. One of the pioneering semiconductor companies of its day (and a "grand daddy company" of Silicon Valley), Fairchild Semiconductor was founded in 1957, a new company growing into the recession of 1957. Fairchild's founders included Eugene Kleiner (who went on to found VC Kleiner Perkins) Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce (founders of Intel)
- Logitech. Started in the recession of the early 1980s by two Stanford grads, Logitech recently shipped its 1 billionth mouse (the computer peripheral, not the animal!)
Know of any other great tech companies started in a downturn? Drop me a line :)
