HP

One of the biggest computer software and hardware manufacturers in the world, HP (Hewlett-Packard) was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939, when the U.S. was trying to recover from a huge recession due to tight fiscal policy from an attempt to balance the budget after the expansion of the New Deal. In 2007, it became the first tech company to exceed $100 billion in revenue. However, the company started as an electronics company that was run from a garage with an investment of mere $538.

Today, the company values more than $128 billion in revenue and offers printers, digital cameras, scanners, PDAs, pocket computer, desktop calculator and computers, thin clients and several other products.