As Apple celebrates its 50th anniversary, these five notable U.S. companies were founded in 1976. From biotechnology and personal computing to craft beer and music hardware, these companies helped shape their industries. Robert A. Swanson founded Genentech less than a week after Apple was founded, and it is often credited as the world's first biotechnology company. North Star Computers, founded in Berkeley, California, struggled to compete with IBM's Personal Computer in 1981, but eventually died in 1989. New Albion Brewing Company, the first post-prohibition microbrewery in the US, was founded in the early 1970s and later sold its products to the Boston Beer Company. Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, founded by Steve Ivy and Jim Halperin in 1976, is now the largest American auction house.