Startup

For Jerry Kaplan and Mitchell Kapor, the idea came to them out of nowhere. This is how great ideas often arise, from simple everyday problems and brilliant minds working to solve them. Flying on a private plane to the Lotus headquarters, where they both worked, the pair realised then that it would be much more convenient to have a laptop they could write on with a pen instead of having to carry screens, hard drives keyboards and mice with them everywhere they went. This would make taking notes, writing, and sending messages much quicker and easier. It was 1984, and the term computer pen did not yet exist.

In the 80’s, it was commonplace for so-called nerds to come up with new and revolutionary ideas, and these two had an idea that could revolutionise the entire computer industry and that came with many other ramifications. If only they could put it into practice. If only their seemingly odd ideas could be translated into numbers, formulae, microchips, processors, and real objects. The idea was there, a dream to create a personal computer that is as small and as easy to carry as a notebook. But “the PC business is a war” says Kapor, who has already fought his share of battles for Lotus.

Just like a romantic relationship, the birth of a company is a time of great instability, extreme enthusiasm, and a little fear. But, in the end, Jerry Kaplan was convinced that he should take matters into his own hands, and make their dream a reality. So, the embryonic stage of GO began.