Bill Hewlett and David Packard graduated with degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1935. The company originated in a garage in nearby Palo Alto during a fellowship they had with a past professor, Frederick Terman at Stanford during the Great Depression. They considered Terman a mentor in forming Hewlett-Packard.[9] In 1938, Packard and Hewlett begin part-time work in a rented garage with an initial capital investment of US$538. In 1939 Hewlett and Packard decided to formalize their partnership. They tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard (HP) or Packard-Hewlett.[10] HP incorporated on August 18, 1947, and went public on November 6, 1957.