Is April 1st the Fools day?

On 1st April 1976, While the world was busy fooling people or getting fooled, three individuals got together to create the world's biggest company in terms of market cap.

Yes, it is Apple. 

Formed on 1st April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, it surpassed the 2 Trillion Dollar mark on 31st July 2020 to become the world's most valuable publicly-traded company. 

Apple's initial shareholding was Steve Jobs 45%, Steve Wozniak 45% and Ronald Wayne 10%. 

While Jobs and Wozniak were young and enterprising, Wayne was sceptical about this venture's prospects. After 12 days, he sold his 10% stake in the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800.

Little did Wayne forecast that the young turks could put a dent in the universe...

Steve jobs - Dent in the Universe
Image Source: https://personalexcellence.co/blog/101-inspiring-quotes/

Today, a 10 per cent stake in Apple would be worth $200 Billion. 

It doesn't stop there...

Wayne kept his original partnership contract from 1976 for many years until the early 90s, when he sold it for $500.

"I had this Apple contract sitting in my filing cabinet, covered in dust and cobwebs, and I thought, 'What do I need to hold onto that for?'" Wayne told Cult of Mac.

According to The Filthy Rich Guide, the same contract was sold at an auction for $1.59 million in 2011

Contract-350x411-2Image Source : https://www.cultofmac.com/475927/ron-wayne-quits-apple/

So what do we learn from here?

  1. Patience is a virtue and a much necessary trait when it comes to investing or building a start up.
  2. It is vital to see the big picture and trust your team.
  3. It is essential to take some risks to achieve big things in life. 
  4. While someone somewhere is busy creating another big company like Apple, we can build one or invest intelligently in many such companies, and who knows, we could end up being part of something huge. 

Coming back to our original question, Is 1st April the Fools day?

Yes and no, I guess...

Please share your thoughts on the above...

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