Printed in 1984 by Pacific Ventures, this original poster has Apple and Hewlett Packard on there back before they began becoming household names. The image has humor in its depiction of the rest of the tech world all along the top, reaching as far as Japan on the horizon. If you know someone in Venture Capital, Software or Technology, this is a nostalgic walk down memory lane of players at the time.

Dimensions: 36” x 24” - approx 1300-1400 pieces

By the early 1980s, Silicon Valley had transitioned from its agrarian roots (“Valley of Heart’s Delight” with orchards and fruit-packing) into a high-tech hub. The region benefitted from a strong ecosystem: top engineering and research presence at Stanford, significant U.S. government and defense funding for electronics and semiconductors, venture capital beginning to concentrate around Sand Hill Road. At the start of the 1980s there were thousands of electronics/semiconductor firms in the area — many small (fewer than 10 employees) and increasingly entrepreneurial rather than just large aerospace contractors. The culture was strongly experimental, engineering-driven, and informal compared to East Coast corporate norms. Startup founders, engineers, and hobbyists mingled in garages, labs, and small offices. The spirit of the Homebrew Computer Club (active in the 1970s-80s) exemplifies that grassroots tech-maker ethos. Risk-taking was increasingly normalized: young engineers leaving larger firms to found companies, investors willing to gamble on unproven technology. The 1980s also marked the transition from purely electronics/hardware manufacturing towards services, software, system design and later networking. One article says: “the 1980s Silicon Valley had become incredibly prosperous and the wild success continued into the 1990s.”