When a tech company reaches a certain level of success, the names of the founders often become synonymous with the brand they create. At least, that's the case with founders who are the "face" of the company.
Still, we tend to forget that Steve Jobs, Travis Kalanick, and Bill Gates, didn't create Apple, Uber, and Microsoft alone.
On the contrary, these companies might not exist in the same capacity if it weren't for the co-founders who fly under the radar because they chose to steer clear of the spotlight, or because the pressures brought on by the early years of a quickly-growing company pushed them away. Many of these same people have moved on to create even more multi-million dollar ideas, while others left for a life of philanthropy, or pursued another passion.
Here are the lesser known co-founders who helped create some of the biggest tech companies you definitely know:
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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak (a.k.a. "Woz") doesn't really need an introduction, but for those who aren't well-versed in the history of Apple: Wozniak designed and built the first Apple computer, Apple 1.
He was working at Hewlett-Packard (HP) at the time, where he tried to share his computer design. When he was denied multiple times, Steve Jobs — who was working there for the summer — suggested the pair try to sell a fully-assembled version of the design to a third party.
As Apple grew, Wozniak felt the emphasis on marketing hindered him as an engineer, and he left for good in 1985, but he's still the sole inventor on multiple Apple patents, including the "Microcomputer for use with video display."
The same year he left Apple, Wozniak finished earning his degree from UC Berkeley (under the fake name "Rocky Raccoon Clark") and founded a company that built the first programmable universal remote control.
Wozniak has since co-founded two more companies, multiple non-profits including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Silicon Valley Comic Con convention. He's also on multiple company boards, and remains on the official Apple employee list. He's also an Apple shareholder.
Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed "Apple Computer" in 1976 alongside their administrative supervisor, Ronald Wayne, who was 42 at the time.
Wayne drew up the first logo and the partnership agreement that gave him 10% of the company, but only lasted for 12 days before deciding he couldn't keep up with the pace the company was going.
Wayne sold his shares for $800 — a decision he claims he doesn't regret. Today, he holds dozens of patents but not enough capital to profit from them, and sells gold, rare coins, and stamps from his home in Nevada.
Uber co-founder Garett Camp
Even after stepping down as the company's CEO, Travis Kalanick seems to personify Uber as a company — but Kalanick wasn't the one to come up with the original idea for Uber.
"Garrett [Camp] is the guy who invented that s--t," Kalanick once said at an early Uber event in San Francisco. "I just want to clap and hug him at the same time."
Camp described what we know as "ride-sharing" to Kalanick when they attended the 2008 LeWeb conference: He wanted to create a convenient luxury car service that didn't cost a thousand dollars to use. Kalanick was on board, and UberCab started later that year.
The initial prototype was created by Camp and two of his friends from graduate school. Kalanick was brought on as a "mega advisor," and wasn't even CEO until 2010 when he replaced then-CEO Ryan Graves.
Camp earned his first fortune when he sold the web-recommendation tool StumbleUpon to eBay in 2007; he still serves as chairman for both StumbleUpon and Uber. He's also an investor and creator of startup studio Expa, which helps new founders build their own products.
Camp doesn't seem to be involved with the day-to-day at activities at Uber, although he did publish this blog post in light of all of the negative attention that Uber was getting last year.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider