This is the classic photo of the traitorous eight who defected from Shockley Semiconductor and founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1959. That was the start of what came to be known as Silicon Valley. Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore were later founders of Intel. Eugene Kleiner was the the founder of venerable VC firm by the name of Keiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers.
I arrived in the Santa Clara Valley in 1971. Intel, AMD, and National were the startups people were excited about. HP and IBM were the old established companies. I saw the the valley expand beyond its semiconductor roots when Apple was founded. Introduction of IBM in 1981 turbocharged the entrepreneurial activity. We formed Excelan in early 1982.
I was super lucky to be at the right place at the right time. It has been an incredible ride!
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/technology/jay-last-dead.html?smid=li-share
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