Stories
How well-known businesses actually got started: the problems, the improvisation and what any small-business owner can take from them.
5,127 Prototypes and a Clogged Vacuum: How Dyson Started
A vacuum that kept losing suction, a cyclone from a sawmill and 5,127 prototypes: how James Dyson started.
5 min readBeating Piracy at Its Own Game: How Spotify Started
Two Swedish founders, a free service the record labels disliked and a bet that a legal app could beat music piracy: how Spotify started.
4 min readHow Airbnb Started: Three Air Mattresses, Cereal Boxes and a Rent Deadline
How a missing rent payment in San Francisco turned into one of the largest travel companies in the world.
4 min read$5,000 and a Pair of Scissors: How Sara Blakely Built Spanx
A fax machine salesperson, a drawer full of unusable pantyhose, and an idea nobody in the industry had tried.
4 min readFrom a Car Trunk to a Waffle Iron: How Nike Started
A school paper, two founders with $500 each, a ruined waffle iron and a $35 logo: how Nike started from the trunk of a car.
4 min readA Wooden Duck, a Fire and a Plastic Brick: How LEGO Started
A carpenter with no customers, a Danish town, two fires and a plastic brick: how LEGO started, and what any small business can borrow.
5 min read$538 and a Garage: How HP Started
Two Stanford-trained engineers began in 1938 with $538, a used drill press and a Palo Alto garage. Then Disney ordered eight of their oscillators for $572, more than their starting capital.
5 min readDoor Desks and a Garage: How Amazon Started
Jeff Bezos began Amazon in a rented Bellevue house, in a garage with no insulation, at a desk made from a door. Here is the full story, with the numbers.
5 min readA $5,000 Loan and No Coffee Drinks: How Starbucks Started
Three friends, a $5,000 bank loan and a hand-built shop that sold beans, not coffee drinks. Here is how Starbucks started in Seattle in 1971.