Steve Wozniak

Commodore turned them down, and Atari turned them down.

Don Valentine at Sequoia dismissed them, but did connect them with Mike Mercoula, 30 years old and already retired from Intel.

The very first time I met Mike, I thought he was the nicest person ever, Wozniak said.

Mercoula had everything, a beautiful house overlooking Cupertino, a gorgeous wife.

But the best part was he actually understood what they had.

To Mike, it was common sense that computers would be in regular people's homes.

They'd keep recipes on them, balance checkbooks.

He saw it coming fast, and he believed the Apple II could be that computer.

He agreed to invest $250,000.

Then he told them something else.

We're going to be a Fortune 500 company in two years.

This is the start of an industry.

It happens once a decade.

After investing his $250,000, Mercoula delivered an ultimatum that would test everything Wozniak believed about himself.

Okay, Woz, you know you have to leave HP.

Wozniak didn't understand.

He designed both apples while working at HP.

Why couldn't he keep doing this on the side and have HP as his secure job for life?

No, you have to leave HP.

Mercoula gave him until Tuesday to decide.