Why are Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak given so little credit for founding respectively Microsoft and Apple?

Why Bill Gates gets credit for Microsoft and Steve Jobs for Apple

Why are Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak given so little credit?

Why do we hear so much about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, while Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak appear to be forgotten? Gates and Jobs were the Captains of the team when their team rose to the top. Their personal image became part of the brand, as much as the product they represented.

Famous business leaders often become media personalities, Elon Musk comes to mind in current events. How many people realize that Elon Musk did not create Tesla motors? Elon Musk bought into Tesla Motors after it was created. Do many people know the names Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, the original founders of Tesla Motors?

I see it all the time as I study the great inventors, another name that comes to mind is Thomas Edison, a great innovator and inventor often criticized for being more of a businessman than an inventor. My comeback is usually to ask why people think that being a successful businessman is mutually exclusive of being a successful innovator and inventor.

Edison was not the only great idea man of his generation, just the one most remembered. Some people love Edison as the great inventor, others despise him as a ruthless businessman.

Same thing with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, some people admire them, some people hate them. Their very outgoing personalities, that some would call aggressive, helped them to lead their companies, it helped them to succeed, and it made them news worthy as well.

Most people don't seen to care about history and only remember what they were told in 30 second sound bites. That's really a shame, the history of companies like Microsoft and Apple are fascinating. We can learn a lot from the stories of Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak.

Thankfully we live in an era full of information, people just need to take the time to look for the stories. Over the years I have followed the post Apple career of Steve “Woz” Wozniak. I've read quite a bit about Paul Allen recently, a very interesting man. Both Allen and Wozniak have done quite a bit since leaving the companies they helped create.