Who co-founded Apple alongside Steve Jobs?

Picture two tech-loving friends hanging out in a garage in 1976. One was Steve Jobs, a charismatic hustler with big dreams. The other? A playful engineering genius who loved nothing more than building cool gadgets and pulling pranks. Together, they'd create Apple. Who was the technical wizard who helped launch what would become a multi-trillion-dollar company?

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The answer is: Steve "Woz" Wozniak

Steve Wozniak met 16-year-old Steve Jobs through a mutual friend in 1971. Jobs was immediately impressed by "Woz" and his talent for creating clever hardware hacks. Their first business venture? Selling "blue boxes" that let people make free long-distance phone calls by mimicking AT&T's tones.

The real magic happened when Woz created the Apple I computer in his spare time. He'd show off his progress at the Homebrew Computer Club, but mostly for fun. Jobs saw it differently. He convinced Woz they should sell it, leading to one of tech's greatest partnerships.

They launched Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, no joke. Their third founder was Ronald Wayne, who wrote their first partnership agreement and drew their original logo. But he got cold feet after just 12 days, selling his 10% stake for $800. Today that would be worth over $300 billion, which just hurts even to read.

Woz kept his day job at HP even after they started Apple, only leaving when HP rejected his design for a personal computer five times. He designed the Apple II, which launched the company into the stratosphere, but eventually left active duties at Apple in 1985 to pursue teaching and other projects. He remained on the payroll through 2020, collecting a modest $50 weekly salary.