Two IBM engineers quit over a refused idea. In 1972 it became SAP.
West Germany. Dietmar Hopp and his assistant Hasso Plattner had spent nine months inside ICI's nylon plant in Östringen, building something new: you typed an order in and saw it on a screen. No punch cards, no overnight run.
ICI wanted more, so the two asked IBM to build it as a product. Plattner told the Computer History Museum in 2012 what they heard: "No, no, no. Product development is done somewhere else."
They left, and three former colleagues joined them. Plattner had just been promoted and was gone before he started the new job. They owned no computer, so they worked on ICI's mainframe at night.
Then ICI's board refused to sign their contract. Too expensive. The two stepped out, agreed that the price stays, went back in and said so. The man across the table signed. "We were just kidding," they said, as Plattner tells it.
The five founded SAP on 1 April 1972 and made a profit in the first year. SAP reported €36.8 billion in revenue for 2025 and 110,650 full-time employees.
One-minute true story. AI-generated illustration with narration by an AI voice.
What would your company say today to two engineers with a product idea?
What the captions say
- West Germany, 1972. 2 young engineers face the board of the world's largest chemical company. The board has just refused to sign.
- "Too expensive." It is the only customer Dietmar Hopp and Hasso Plattner have. Months ago, both had safe jobs at IBM.
- It began at a nylon factory. In 9 months the two built something new: type an order in, and it was there, on a screen. No punch cards.
- The factory wanted more. They asked IBM to make it a product. IBM: "No, no, no. Product development is done somewhere else."
- But the factory kept asking: who will build it? One day the two said: "We will."
- Plattner had just been promoted. He quit before his first day. People called them crazy. They did not even own a computer.
- So every evening, when the day shift went home, they sat down at the factory's mainframe and worked until morning.
- Now everything they had bet was on that table. They looked at each other. Stood up. Left the room.
- In the corridor they agreed on 3 words: the price stays. They went back in: "No. That's it."
- The man across the table picked up his pen. And signed. "We were just kidding."
- Profit in year 1. You know their company as SAP. Today 110,650 people work there.
