Traf-O-Data

Traf-O-Data was a partnership formed by Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert while Gates and Allen were students in Seattle. It processed paper tapes from roadway traffic counters into reports for traffic engineers.^{Source [1]Source [2]Source [3]}

The partners built a machine around the Intel 8008 microprocessor to read the tapes, which Gates said he funded and for which he wrote some of the software. When a county official came to see it, the machine did not work, and the business made a modest amount of money processing tapes instead.^{Source [1]Source [2]}

It had ceased operating by 1975, when Gates and Allen started Microsoft.^{Source [3]Source [2]}

Started in the early 1970s in Seattle by Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert to turn traffic counter paper tapes into reports. They built a machine around the Intel 8008 to sell, but it did not work when a county official came to see it, so the business processed tapes instead and earned a modest amount. It was defunct by 1975, the year Gates and Allen started Microsoft.^{Source [1]Source [2]Source [3]}