Following their graduation as electrical engineers from Stanford University in 1934, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard became close friends and with the encouragement of Stanford professor and mentor Fred Terman, they decided to start a business "and make a run for it" themselves.
Bill and Dave began part-time work in a garage behind Dave's house with $538 in working capital. The $538 consisted of cash and a used Sears-Roebuck drill press. Bill's study of negative feedback resulted in HP's first product " the resistance-capacity audio oscillator (HP 200A), an electronic instrument used to test sound equipment. The principle of feedback provided the foundation for other early HP products such as a harmonic wave analyzer and several distortion analyzers.
World War II created a flood of U.S. government orders for electronic instruments from HP. That economic success allowed HP to build the first of its own buildings and add several new products. As HP grew, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard created a management style that formed the basis of HP's famously open corporate culture and influenced how many later technology companies would do business. Dave practiced a management technique " eventually dubbed "management by walking around" " which was marked by personal involvement, good listening skills and the recognition that "everyone in an organization wants to do a good job." As managers, Bill and Dave ran the company according to the principle later called management by objective " communicating overall objectives clearly and giving employees the flexibility to work toward those goals in ways that they determine are best for their own areas of responsibility. HP also established its open door policy " open cubicles and executive offices without doors " to create an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding. The open door policy encouraged employees to discuss problems with a manager without reprisals or adverse consequences.