Lecuyer and Sturgeon argue that, roughly 30 years before Hewlett and Packard started work in their garage, and almost 50 years before the Traitorous Eight created Fairchild, the basic culture of Silicon Valley
was forming around radio: engineers who hung out in
hobby clubs, brainstormed and borrowed equipment,
spun new companies out of old ones, and established a meritocracy ruled by those who made electronic products cheaper, faster and better.