How They Made Their Millions: Recent Episodes
Vijay Peduru
This show is about the amazing stories of world-class multi-millionaire and billionaire founders , how they started and how they succeeded. Founder Stories include the founders of Facebook(Mark), Linked-in(Reid), WhatsApp(Jan), Ben and Jerry Ice creams(the name says it), Instagram(Kevin), Amazon(Jeff), Pandora(Tim), Hershey Chocolates(Milton) and more. You will hear their struggles and seemingly insurmountable problems and how they emerged victoriously, so you too can succeed as a founder.
How did Nick Woodman , the founder of GoPro grow from selling bead belts in a VW van to creating a billion-dollar empire. Let us check it out.
Here is the riveting journey of J.P. Morgan, the titan who transformed American finance.Let us discover how this financial maestro navigated uncertainty while everything was in chaos and etched an indelible legacy in the annals of American business.
Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman, and Nathaniel Ru were three friends who shared a passion for healthy food. Since they couldn't find good places to eat healthy food, they started their own. They did not know anything about business and came close to shutting down their business. But they survived and turned it into a multi-million dollar food empire.
Let's check out their "Dorm Room Dream to Million-Dollar Food Empire" story.
Jamie Kern Lima had a dream to become a TV show host, but her dreams were shattered because of a problem she had. She later started IT cosmetics to solve her own problem. Faced with self-doubt, and down to her last few dollars, she persisted in the face of gut-wrenching rejections and setbacks. Finally she sold it to L’Oréal for multiple millions.
Let us check out her awe-inspiring story.
Sheila Marcelo aspired to have a fulfilling life with a well-planned career. However, life took an unexpected turn, and she faced many challenging situations. Despite this, she persevered and founded care.com from her personal problem, transforming it into a multi-million dollar empire.
Listen in for her inspiring story.
Kara Godin never intended to start a business. But she had a personal problem of losing weight. She started to share her unsweetened, fruit infused water with friends in her neighborhood. When they all liked it, she realized the potential opportunity.
She heard “no you can't” and “that’s impossible” from many people. But she finally made Hint a success and became a multi-millionaire.
Let us check out her amazing story.
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Lovine, both music producers, recognized the need for high-quality headphones that could accurately reproduce the sound of music as it was intended to be heard in the studio.
Despite facing initial challenges and negative reviews from some critics, they persevered with their idea, continuously improving their product and pushing forward. Their unwavering determination paid off, as they ultimately sold their company for a staggering sum of over $2 billion.
Let us check out their story.
William Durant started General motors, but it almost came close to shutting down. Then Alfred Sloan stepped in. He adopted a different approach than his competitors to sell his cars. The strategy worked and sales took off.
GM ultimately became a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out their story.
Tim Ferriss was depressed most of the time and one time thought of ending his life. But he escaped that by fate of luck. Later he started a business and even here he felt overworked, restless, and unsure of how to fix his life. During this process he also lost all that was important to him.
At this time, he discovered and learnt something which changed the course of his life.
Later he published the 4-hour workweek, about his experiences and how he fixed his life. The book was a massive success and changed the lives of millions of people around the world.
Let us check out his story.
Leonard Gentine never had any plans for starting a business. But by sheer accident, he got to know about a new profession and started a business which was a failure. Later by another accident, he got the idea to start a cheese making business. He faced several problems but finally they succeeded and it became a billion dollar company.
Let us check out his story.
Mark Cuban’s father was an automobile upholstery installer and life was not the best. He figured out ways to make money and finished his education. He was not sure what to do with his life, but a chance firing from his job made him start a business. Later he started Broadcast.com, sold it and became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.
Charles Dolan, failed at two businesses. He faced many setbacks. Yet in 1973, this Maverick entrepreneur started Cablevision and built it into a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out his daring story.
Robin Chase was a stay at him mom & Antje Danielson was a mom and academic researcher. They never had any prior experience starting a business but they had deep passion to make the world a better place. They started ZipCar and even though they faced several problems and came close to shutting it down, they survived. Finally they sold it for $500 million.
Let us check out their story.
Chuck Feeney was born poor. He made a fortune selling duty-free goods, building an enterprise out of nothing. Then, he gave all his money away. Let us check out his truly inspiring story.
Danny Zappin, Shay Carl and a few other YouTubers, started their own YouTube Channels and amassed millions of subscribers. They decided to pool together their talent, followers and subscribers into a kind of talent network. They called it Maker Studios.
It kept growing and they finally sold it for more than $500 million. Let us check out their story.
How did Dorothy Herman rose from life-crushing Trauma to become a multi-millionaire Real-Estate icon. Let us check out her awe-inspiring story.
How did Brian lee and Brian Lui start LegalZoom, a company that provides legal documentation in a one-bedroom apartment eating ramen noodles and became multi-millionaires.
Let us check out their ramen-to-riches story.
How did a model who was a high-school dropout become a Business Mogul building a multi-billion dollar company.
Let us check out her inspiring story.
How did Don Katz who started working as a journalist and never had any exposure to tech started Audible and then sold to Amazon and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out his superb story.
How did Diane Hendricks, a high school dropout and a Teen single mom built ABC Supply, the largest wholesale roofing distributor in America, and rose to become a Billionaire Entrepreneur, even though she faced unbearable personal truama in her life. Let us check out her wonderful story.
Rashmi Sinha & Jonathan Boutelle wanted to embed PowerPoint presentations into other websites, but they could not find a solution. So how did they turn this personal problem into a Multi-million dollar business. Let us check out their story.
How did Wayne Hughes who was born to a poor farmer started Public Storage to store people's excess belongings and became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.
Chris MacAskill was homeless and had to deal with a sick mother. Yet he rose through his challenges and started SmugMug and lived a fulfilling life and also became a multi-millionaire in this process.Let us check out his story.
Toni Ko’s parents immigrated to America, and she did not understand English. Yet she struggled and at a young age started NYX cosmetics and sold it for multiple millions to the world’s largest cosmetics company. Let us check out her story.
Jason Fried and David Hanson, went against the status quo and built basecamp by doing the opposite of what we think successful companies are supposed to do and yet grew it into a multi-million dollar company. Let us see how they did it.
Bloomingdale is a high-end luxury department chain started in New York. It started as a tiny shop selling only one item. Yet it grew into a billion-dollar high-end luxury store chain. Let us check out their story.
Mike Lee wanted to lose some weight before his wedding, but there was no good digital solution. So he decided to start his own app as a side hustle and it grew beyond his dreams with more than 100+ million users. Let use check out his story.
GitHub is a well-known website that brings together developers from all over the globe to work together on code. But how did Tom Preston-Werner and Chris Wanstrath took GitHub from a “weekend project-started in-bar” to one of the world’s most powerful software development services that Microsoft purchased for $7.5 billion? Let us check it out.
Eddie Bauer grew up loving the outdoors. To support his family, he dropped out of school and working odd jobs, he later opened his own tiny outdoor shop. He dedicated his life to making gear that made life easier for outdoorsmen. He faced many problems, but slowly it grew and today it has more than 500 locations and is sold throughout the world. Let us check out his story.
Riccardo Zacconi started king. com to build games . His business nearly went bankrupt. The Dot-com bubble had burst and Zacconi had put all of his money into his company and he would lose it all. How did he come out of this, how did he create the Candy Crush game, which became a huge hit, made him a multi-millionaire and made the game a global cultural phenomenon. Let’s check it out.
Nathan Handwerker, whose first job at age 6 was peddling knishes in what is now Poland, immigrated to New York when he was barely 20. He had no formal education, spoke no English and began his restaurant career as a dishwasher. Nathan built his empire with his determination and persistence and became a multi-millionaire. Here is his inspiring story.
Paul English wrestled with bipolar disorder, having bouts of depression frequently, yet he teamed up with Steve Hafner and started Kayak. They faced competitors, but they persisted and executed well and finally sold it to Priceline for $1.8 billion dollars and both founders became multi-millionaires. This is the story of how they changed the way people travel forever.
Many have heard about the man who revolutionized the lodging industry in the 20th century: Kemmons Wilson — the founder of everyone’s favorite hotel chain, Holiday Inn. But behind this incredible man, there’s an even more incredible story. This is the story of a poor boy who vowed never to be hungry again. Let us check it out.
Katrina Lake never had any dreams of starting a business. She thought she was never capable, but due to a discovery she made about other entrepreneurs, she decided to start Stitchfix. As a woman founder, she faced many hurdles, yet she overcame all this and made StitchFix successful and became a multimillionaire. Let us check out her story.
John Paul DeJoria grew up poor with his single mother. He faced many problems in life and was homeless twice and lived in his car. Yet he had the drive to keep moving. Finally, he started Paul Mitchell systems and later became a billionaire. Let us check out how he did it.
Tim Chen had a nice job in the financial services industry. But something bad happened, and he accidentally started NerdWallet. Money was not coming in and he thought of shutting it down. But he somehow persisted and finally took it public and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
Lucas oils is a manufacturer and distributor of automotive oil, additives, and lubricants.
Its founder is Forrest Lucas and his is a proverbial ‘rags-to-riches’ story, emerging from rural Indiana to build an empire. He started as a truck driver and become an oil and media magnate and, in the process, becoming a multi-millionaire. Let us check out his story.
Now we take for granted that we can print anything from our computer.
But long back, this was very difficult and many companies, including Apple, were not able to figure out how to print properly from a computer to a printer. But John and Charles from Adobe figured it out and built Adobe. They struggled, faced threats and competitors, but they succeeded and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their story.
Gordon and his wife wanted designer European cookware and glassware, but they were very expensive in America. To solve this problem for them and for others, hey opened Crate & Barrel, even though they didn’t know anything about business. They struggled, but ultimately succeeded and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their story.
Trip Hawkins grew up at a time when there were no computers. He loved complex sports simulation board games, but others found it complex. He dreamt of a day to make playing games easier and fun. Finally he did it with EA. He went thru many harrowing experiences but came out successfully and in the process became a multi-millionaire.
Justin Gold started working as a waiter to pay off his student loans, but then he stumbled on his passion for peanut and almond butter. Even though he did not know anything about starting a business, he figured it out and started it. Even though he came close to shutting down and there was no hope left to survive, he kept pursuing and finally emerged victoriously and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
Drew Houston's first job was babysitting and he was making $3.00 per hour, but then he figured out that he could get paid more doing what he loved.. Game programming. He later started DropBox. He had many setbacks, and he had to face the demons in his head. He overcame all this and finally took Dropbox Public. Both he and his co-founder became billionaires. Let us see how he did it.
Al Copeland was born in utter poverty and never graduated high school. Yet he struggled and started popeyes. He explored his various passions and lived life to his fullest. Popeyes was a big success, and he became a multi-millionaire. Let's check out his story.
Tobias Lutke never had any dreams to start a business and he knew he was not capable. But by sheer accident, he started Shopify and later became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.
Charles_Kettering grew up poor and had health problems. Yet, he persevered and invented many things including the self-starter in cars and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
Neil Blumenthal along with his 3 friends started a business, while he was in college. Everyone he talked to said, they would fail, Yet, they started Warby Parker and turned it into a multi-billion dollar company. Let us see how they did it.
George Soros escaped death when he was young. He started as a Clerk, but later started a hedge fund and rose up to become a billionaire.Let us check out his story.
Julia Hartz never had an intention to start a business nor had any knowledge of the tech world. But she was pulled into it by accident, and she and her husband Kevin started EventBrite and took it to a billion-dollar company.
Cathy grew up poor and when Cathy Hughes was in her teens, she was thrown out of her house. With no resources or connections, she rose to start Urban one, a network of Radio stations and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out her story.
Jamie Siminoff tried many ideas and failed. One time by accident, he stumbled on the idea for a WIFI Video doorbell. It was tough to survive, but he doggedly persisted and finally sold his company for a whopping $1.2billion. Let us see how he did it…
Emanuel Bronner was born in Germany and escaped to America during the Nazi regime.
Stricken with personal loss, he decided to bring peace into the world and started making soap and grew the company to more than $100 million.
Let us see how he did it.
Andrew Carnegie’s grew up poor. He started with a lowly job. He slowly rose and started a company and finally became the world’s richest man and also one of the world’s greatest philanthropist. Holy Lemon Pie, Let us check it out how he did it.
Gary VaynerChuk was the son of a immigrant Liquor store worker. So Gary had the fire to get rich. He later started Wine Library TV and other businesses and eventually became a multi- millionaire. Holy Vanilla Ice cream!, Let us see how he did it.
Bob Parsons grew up poor and since he wanted money he tried several means to earn money. He started GoDaddy and came close to shutting it down. But he persisted and succeeded and ultimately became a billionaire.
Richard Branson needs no introduction. His reputation precedes him!. Due to a birth defect, he was poor at understanding things and he was a terrible student too. But he overcame all this and became a fun-loving billionaire. Let us see how he did it.
Behance is like LinkedIn for Designers. Scott started with a low-level job as a financial trader but later started Behance with less than $20,000 Later, he sold it to Adobe for more than $100 million. Let us see how he did it.
Suroosh Alvi's parents had high hopes for his future. But during his college, he got addicted to drugs. Yet, he transformed from a worthless drug addict to a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it with VICE.
Jeremy first idea for yelp failed to get traction and almost failed. He accidentally found that users loved writing reviews and he redesigned Yelp and it took off wildly and made Jeremy a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
Ehud Shabtai got a GPS and he thought of creating an app. But the maps company blocked him. He came up with a unique solution and Waze became a hit with users and finally they sold it to Google for a billion dollars. Let us see how they did it.
Michael Dubin founded Dollar Shave Club in 2011 in his apartment with his meager savings. Five years later, in 2016, his company was acquired by Unilever for $1 billion. How the heck did he do it. Let us see how he did it.
Gary loved bike riding and during one such long ride, he looked at the disgusting energy bar he was carrying and got the idea for Clif bar. He started Clif bar, struggled and finally became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
Black entertainment television founder Bob Johnson was a son of farmer and one of nine children. He has no business experience, yet he started and became a Billionaire . Holy chocolate, Let's see how he did it.
Scott Adams started work as a bank teller. He dabbled in many side hustles but every one of them failed. Finally, just on a whim,he created Dilbert. It grew accidentally and eventually made him a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
In the late 1960's, Tom and Kate Chappell couldn't find natural personal care products. So they started their own company. They didn’t knew much about running a business, but they succeeded and sold for more than $100 million. Let us see how they did it.
Sean Rad had a personal problem where he was scared and terrified to meet girls. He came up with an idea for people like him and Tinder was born. Tinder became a huge success and Sean became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
Jim Sinegal started as a grocery bagger in a grocery store. How did he start Costco and became a billionaire. Holy coconut Donut, Let us check out, how he did it.
Reed never knew anything about running a business. He later started Netflix and faced several problems. But he overcame all those and Netflix grew beyond his wildest dreams and became a billionaire.
As a student and a football player in college, Kevin saw a problem with his sports inner wear. He did not know anything about business. Yet, he started Under Armour and slowly grew it into a billion dollar company. Let us check out how he did it.
Alex and Steve started Reddit in a small apartment. Despite its many problems and coming close to shutting down, it survived and today is valued at more that a couple of billion dollars. Let us see how they did it.
Anita Roddick had to earn money to support her two kids. She started a store and sold chemical free, cruelty-free cosmetics. It grew from one tiny shop into a billion dollar enterprise. Let us see how she did it.
Josh and Ricky wanted to make money when they were in college. They got an idea for a humor site about college. It grew and grew and they finally sold it for more than $15 million. Let us check out how they did it.
Jim started to brew beer in his kitchen. He faced many rejections while trying to sell. Yet he persevered and grew Boston Beer company into a billion dollar company. Let us see how he did it.
Ryan started a side project with no idea to make money or to make it big. He first started as an email list and it grew phenomenally. It was sold for more than $15 million. Let us see how he did it.
Bill was fired from his job and he accidentally stumbled upon the idea for 24 hours sports network. Everyone thought he was crazy and said it will not work. Today it has millions of viewers and valued at more than $15 billion. Let us check it out.
When you listen to a song on the radio or a cafe, you sometimes may want to know who sang it. Chris and his friends solved this problem through Shazam. It was hard but they did it and sold it for multiple millions.Let us see how they did it.
Sara worked at Disneyworld checking belts on passengers on theme rides. Yet step by step she grew and started Spanx and became a fashion icon and billionaire. Holy Heavens, Let us see how she did it.
In the early days, the World Wide Web, wasn’t easily accessible. Marc Andreessen along with Jim Clark brought us easy access to the internet with their browser Netscape and it doing so, became multi-millionaires. Let us check out how they did it.
John Nordstrom was poor and immigrated to the united states. He had to endure tough working conditions in his youth. He saved up money and opened a small store. Today it has grown to a billion-dollar fashion empire. Let us see how he did it.
Angie Hicks a fresh college grad accidentally started a business. She had very bad days and almost gave up. Later it was sold for multiple millions. Let us see how she did it.
Do Won Chang started as a gas station attendant. He then started a small shop and grew it to a multi-billion dollar fashion empire. Let us see how he did it.
Mike Ramsay and Jim Barton had a Home automation idea, which didn't work out. They switched to another idea and TiVo was born. Giant media companies tried to stop them, yet they came out successful and sold it for $1+ billion. Let's see how they did it.
Harry and Esther, who grew up poor started a small burger stand. It grew to 300 stores and developed a cult following. Now it is valued at more that a billion dollars. Holy Yummy, How did they do it. Let's check it out.
While Chuck saw his wife struggling for hours to get a reservation at a restaurant, He hit upon a business idea. OpenTable was born. He struggled but finally he sold it for $2+ billion. Bingo Bango , how did he do it, Let us check it out.
Gordon Ramsay was born poor and grew up in abusive situations. But this didn't deter him. He rose to become a world-famous chef and media personality. Holy mango Pudding!, Let us see who he did it.
Aaron Levie dropped out of college and started box. He was getting crushed by big players like Google and Microsoft. Yet, he overcame all this, took Box public and became a multi-millionaire at a very young age. Holly Fruit Cake,Let us see how he did it.
William Wrigley, Jr.was a school dropout but after many failures, he started Wrigley’s Chewing Gum and grew it to one of the world's largest chewing gum producer and became one of the world's richest man. Holy Lemon Pie. Let's check out how he did it.
Craig Newmark started Craigslist as a part-time hustle while working full-time. It grew and soon became one of the iconic brands in the world and made this poor kid a multi-millionaire. Holy Banana Pudding, Let's check out how he did it.
Noah Alper started selling stuff on the streets and later on started Noah's Bagels with a single store in California and built it into a chain of multiple stores, ultimately selling it for $90+ million.
Holy Yummy Pie , Let us check out how he did it.
Arianna Huffington grew up in a poor family where money was scarce. She faced many failures, rejections, and heartbreaks. Yet, how did she start and sold Huffington Post for 300+ million? Let us check it out.
Kate and Andy Spade put in all their savings and borrowed from credit cards to create a different kind of handbags. They almost failed, but eventually grew into a multi-million dollar Fashion empire. Holy Lemon Pie, Let us check it out!.
Sabeer was working as a programmer and had a personal problem with accessing his email. He started Hotmail and it grew fast. Microsoft came calling and he sold it for $300+ million.
Yvon Chouinard grew up poor, dropped out of high school and was a failure in life. Accidentally,he started a business and it grew wildly and he became a billionaire. Holy Mango Pie. Let us check out how he did it
TripAdvisor is a great site to plan and book a perfect trip. Steve, the founder did not get the idea in a bath tub, He had his own problem, couldn't find a solution. He built it and sold it for $100+ million. Bingo Bango,Let us check out, how he did it.
Julie was a mother of two. She created a product for her kids called Baby Einstein. but then others liked it and she was accidentally pulled into creating a multi-million dollar business. Let us see how she did it.
Ryan had a dream of starting a company and becoming a multi-millionaire while he was young. He ran out of money and faced many personal tragedies. Did he succeed? I am sure you know the answer by reading the headline. Let us check out how he did it.
Truett Cathy , the founder of Chick-fill-a grew up dirt-poor and in utter poverty. He focused his life on truly serving people and he rose from a poor boy living in poverty to a billionaire. How did he do it. Let us find out.
Richard quit his stressful software job and tried to become a DJ. He failed miserably. He got an idea for a board game. None of the stores wanted to carry it. He figured out solutions and finally sold Cranium for $70+ million. Let's check how he did it.
We all know Evan Williams who was one of the founders of Twitter.
Way way back before Twitter, he had started Pyra, but created blogger.com by accident and in 2003, sold it to Google for multiple millions.
Let us check out this fascinating story.
Beto had a passion for dance and later immigrated to America to bring Zumba, his dance fitness to America . He did not have a place to sleep and faced many hardships and rejections . Yet ,How did he build this multi-million dollar company ?. Let us check it out.
Brian and Matt had a simple idea of enabling anyone to search for family history across centuries. Initially they did not have this idea, but found it from their users. They sold this company for $90+ million.
Holy Waffle, Let us check out how they did it.
Everyone hates working out in the gym, Yet these two moms invented a fitness that made exercise effective and joyful. They had very humble beginning and started in a sublet scrappy studio and built a Multi-million dollar indoor cycling fitness empire.
Jan Koum migrated to America in his teens. His family was poor,Yet this kid rose to build an app called Whatsapp. It grew like crazy and was purchased for a whopping $15+ billion. Holy smokes. How is this possible.
Let us check out this unbelievable story.
David set aside his dreams of becoming a professional musician to help his parents with their struggling cheesecake business. He helped them open a small restaurant and today it has become a billion dollar global phenomenon.
Let us check it out.
Robin's story is an inspiring one . She grew up on a farm, had a bunch of personal and business setbacks. Yet she bounced back and finally sold her startup for 30+ million. Let us find out how she did it.
Jessica was a popular Hollywood actress. She had a personal problem and could not find products to solve her problem. So, she started her own business and made it into a multi-million dollar company. Holy Danish pastry. Let us check out how she did it.
Caterina and Stewart started building an online multi-player game and money was running out. They accidentally hit upon an photo sharing idea-- Flickr-- and built it and sold for $30+ million. Holy Crispy Croissants. Let us check out, how they did it.
Before he turned 20, Fred used a borrowed $1,000 investment to open a sandwich shop in Connecticut. Today, Subway has more than 40,000 locations worldwide and Fred became a billionaire. Holy Macaroni, How did he do it, Let us find out.
James and Rick were studying at Harvard and they accidentally hit upon an "Personality Testing" idea. They were close to shutting it down, but they persisted. They sold the company for $90+ million. Let us check out how they did it
Ingvar was a poor boy and his poverty propelled him to work hard and become entrepreneurial from a very young age. He later broke the rules of retail and created the world-famous IKEA and became a billionaire. Let us check out this awesome story.
Vikas and Jeff wanted to build an app for receipt scanning, but it failed. They had another idea and that too failed. Finally they built Redlaser which was a hit and sold to eBay for multiple millions. Let us check out how they did it.
Mary kay Ash had a very tough childhood growing up as a poor girl. She faced many personal and professional setbacks and was depressed. She finally started a cosmetics company with $5000 and became a billionaire. Let us check out, how she built it.
Brian Lam was laid-off from his tech job and he trained himself as a professional fighter, but he switched careers and finally started the Wirecutter website. He sold it to The New York Times for $30+ million.
Let us see how he did it.
Tom Scott and Tom First started by delivering food and other stuff to boats in a harbor. They ultimately started a Juice company by accident which was sold for $100+ million dollars.
Holy Choco, Let us check out how they did it.
Reid Hoffman was bad at academics , then he started and failed at his first startup. Yet he persevered and later started Linkedin.
He sold it to Microsoft for $20+ billion.
Holy Tasty Strawberry pie. How did he do it. Let us check it out.
Two firefighter brothers Chris and Robin were always looking for ways to increase their income. They failed many times and finally built a multi-million dollar restaurant empire.
Holy Pecan Pie, Let us check out how they did it.
Mike and Matt started GrubHub as a side project while working on their day jobs as computer programmers. They bootstrapped it with their own money and took GrubHub to a 3+ billion IPO.
Holy Chocolatey Doughnut. How did they do it. Let us check it out…
Jerry was a sales manager but he did not like it. He wanted to start a software business but he ended up starting a chocolate business. He did not know anything but he made it into a $10million business. Let us check out how he did it.
There were huge dating websites with plenty of cash and thousands of employees. Can one person and a new entrant take on these giants and still succeed and make millions with zero employees. Markus did it with PlentyofFish.com. Holy Apple Pie!, Let us find out how he did it.
If you look at it , Fitbit for dogs seems like a gimmick business. Who would think that this will become successful. Yet Ben Jacobs proved that this is a worthwhile business and started it and finally sold it for $100+ million.
Let us see how he did it.
Jeff ran out of money and was not able to pay his employees. On top of this, his company got sued, yet he kept pushing forward and succeed and sold StubHub to ebay for $300+ million.
Let us check out how he did it.
Francesco Clark was living a happy life but suddenly his life was hurled and turned upside down by an accident leaving him paralyzed and not able to move 95% of his body, Yet he built a multi-million dollar business.
Let us check out how he did it.
Microsoft and Quicken were leaders and giants with lots of cash and marketing power in the personal finance software business. Yet, Aaron took on the giants and built a "sure-to-fail" business and sold to Intuit for $160+ million.Let us see how he did it.
Kevin worked on his startup idea close to 2 years but it didn't take off. He took a risk, scraped his old idea and went with a new idea, which he found almost by accident.
It was a hit and Facebook bought it for $1 billion. Let us check out how he did it
Milton Hershey started many business and failed in all of them. Any one else would have been crushed by these failures but not Milton. His passion kept him going and he became one of the richest person in America.
Let us find out how he did it.
Pretty inspiring story. Anne Beiler had to face an agonizing, intolerable personal loss. Yet this 8th grade dropout,courageously came out and built one of the most enduring Pretzel stores dotting across the world.Let us find out how she did it.
Three friends started Wufoo with less than 20k, while still working on their day jobs.
They faced lot of hurdles with lots of uncertainties. Finally they sold the company for $30+ million. Let us find out how they did it.
Jon needed photographs for his websites and when he couldn't find cheaper photographs, he sensed that others will have the same problem and started ShutterStock.
He started with less than $1000 and took it to $2+ billion IPO.Let's see how he did it.
Markus started the game Minecraft as a side project, while working on his day job.
He had personal tragedies during this time.Yet he kept pushing.
Later he sold for 2+ billion. Let us see how he did it.
Can you be cheap and scrappy and yet build a business that is both fun and makes millions. James and Jim built HotorNot by bootstrapping all the way and came out with creative ideas to save themselves from shutting down.
Let us check out how they did it.
Tim started his career as a Nanny and was playing in bands as a side hustle. He saw the agonizing problems his fellow musicians were facing and he started Pandora.
He faced several problems and he came very close to shutting it down, but didn't.
Let us see how he did it.
Two friends turned their passion of ice creams into a multi-million dollar empire. They just started with $5 investment and did not know anything about how to start a business.
Yet they became wildly successful. Let us see how they did it.
Daymond John was an ordinary guy working as a waiter in a restaurant and in his spare time started FUBU(For us by Us) a sports apparel company with just $40 and turned it into $350+ million in revenue.
Let us check out how he did it.
Household cleaning products were dominated by giant companies with their toxic and harmful products. Two friends created "non-toxic" and "cool-looking" cleaning products and they beat the giants and are making $100+ million.
Let us check out how...
Is it possible to invest $200 and make millions from a simple message of “Do what you like, like what you do” and also bring happiness to millions of people.
Let us check out how two brothers Bert and John Jacobs did it.
Derek did not know anything about programming, he did not know how to start and run a business.
He did not have enough money. He just started with $500 and eventually sold his business CDBaby for $19+ millions.
Let us check out, how he did it.
How did a bartender became a millionaire, Jim McCann transformed 1-800-FLOWERS from a small struggling floral shop into a multi-million dollar flower and gift business. Did he plan it and did he have the desire to become a millionaire?. Let us check out.
Nobu a poor boy , dreamt of opening his own sushi restaurant. He started a few restaurants, but all of them failed He attempted suicide but it was averted . He pulled himself up and opened a fourth one and it became wildly successful and generated millions. Let us see how he did it.
Can a simple kid's game with penguins become a blockbuster hit , and then attract Disney to buy them for $325+ million.
Here is how three guys, Lane Merrifield , Dave Krysko and Lance Priebe did it with Club Penguin.
Is it possible to do what we love..have fun and.. also make money.
Leo Laporte of the famous “TWIT TV” podcast did it by bootstrapping his podcast empire almost by accident. Let us check out how he is doing it.
When Rachel, a healthy vegetarian food lover, injured herself during pregnancy, her husband got her a frozen vegetarian dinner, which tasted Yucky.
They started their own vegetarian frozen dishes business and grew big into a 200+ million business. How?
Betsy Saul did not set out to make money. She couldn't see bad things happen to Pets.
She started as a service to help pets and it grew into a business and produced millions as a side benefit.
Here is who she did it.
We all heard about internet unicorns --the billion dollar-- valuation companies.
but can that be done with a non-internet business that too with a simple Yogurt business. Hamdi Ulukaya an immigrant proved it can be done and became a billionaire.
Here is how he did it...
Can you start a business without knowing anything about the business and still make millions.
Most people will say No, but Bob MacLeod and Steve Byckiewicz proved that it can be done. They just started and learnt along the way.
Let us find out who they did it.. Pretty interesting
Can a movie watching hobby be turned into a serious business that too a multimillion dollar business.
Col Needham did this with one of the world’s top entertainment website IMDB.com and sold to Amazon.
Let us check out how he did it.
Can an insane idea of selling mismatched socks succeed?. Who would want to wear them.. right?
Wrong..,Jonah Staw proved it will succeed by building LittleMissMatched and generating multiple millions.
Let us see how he did it.
While there are already big players in the shoe business, Can someone come with a new idea for shoes and succeed and also make tons of money. Mario Polegato did it with Geox and made it a billion dollar company. with a weird idea —having holes in shoes—
Let us check out how he did it..
Can you build a high trafficked blog with your passion and also make money.
Graham Hill did it with TreeHugger.com and sold for $10 million. Here is how he did it.
Can a person born to Chinese immigrants who was broke and no job, build a 100million-plus business with his passion for music. Check out how Monster Audio's Noel Lee did it.
Robert Stephens started Geek Squad with just himself and $200 investment.
He did some fascinating marketing without any money.
and he grew to thousands of employees and sold Geek Squad to Best buy for Millions.
How did he do it. Let us check out.
Maxine had a good job with pretty good money. Years passed by and she felt a void in her heart. She wanted to do something which she loved and leave her mark in this world.
Find out how she quit her job, started her passion business called build-a-bear and became Rich(multi-millionaire) and happy in the process.
Two Friends were stressed out by their Lawyer Jobs and wanted to do something which they loved and they loved Restaurants. They did not know anything about restaurants. but how did they succeed? Check out the founders story of California Pizza Kitchen(CPK)