In 1949, Earl Bakken and his brother-in-law began to repair high tech medical equipment in a garage in northeast Minneapolis. At first, they had one hospital as a client; then they added several hospitals. Pretty soon, their work led to clients asking them to improve and modify existing products and design new ones. They designed these medical products to improve and prolong the quality of life for patients. They tinkered and innovated. Their business expanded to a second garage, then an apartment and soon Medtronic, today a Fortune 500 company, was born.
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