Having to go through distributors was a much bigger deal back then than it is now, something that could be the subject of another article. Most distributors back then didn’t want to sell to individuals or startup businesses; you had to create an account with them, and that meant you had to be a sufficiently established business to be able to do that. There were a couple of upstart companies called Digi-Key and Mouser that would send catalogs to anybody and happily take a check or the then new credit cards (those had been around earlier but only as a plaything for the rich; cards for the masses weren’t yet ubiquitous) and send you parts. Those two distributors captured all the business from the garage shop startups and grew rapidly because of them; the startups didn’t switch over to the established companies like Arrow and Allied as they grew, they continued to order from the companies they already knew, and that catapulted Digi-Key (now styled Digikey) and Mouser into the leading positions in the industry they now hold. Later, they were pioneers in online ordering, further cementing their positions.