Adventures of an Apple Founder

In the spring of 1976, while Ron Wayne was working as chief draftsman and product development engineer at the video game maker Atari, he chanced upon the opportunity to help a co-worker and friend through some of the more subtle intricacies of forming a small business. With Ron came his natural sensibilities and experiences, which included a deep love for critical analysis, organization and attention to detail. These skills had been honed over a lifelong career in many professional disciplines. So it was that he offered himself openly as a friend and resource to two much-younger entrepreneurs.

It is one of life’s profound realities that people rarely recognize “history” while they are in the midst of making it. It can rightly be argued that the combined talents of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (along with the very small and peripheral support of Ron Wayne) came to define such a case. For Apple, it would take a corporate rebirth along with many years of hard-won success before others would come to understand the company’s ethos and realize it’s impact on society and business on a global scale. This curious combination of human chemistry, skill and opportunity led to one of the largest and most relevant technology enterprises in history, Apple Computer (now just Apple Inc.).

There is much more to the story of Ron Wayne than his brief involvement with the Apple Computer Company (before it was re-formed as Apple Computer Inc.). Adventures of an Apple Founder offers insight into the experiences that define the man who saw the opportunity, as well as the risk, of being involved in a small computer business at a moment in history that would only later come to be known as “the personal computer revolution.” Ron’s who’s passion for engineering and design spans over three quarters of a century, half a dozen industries and a lifetime of adventures!