Startup Stories

Tony Hsieh and Zappos’ WOW Service

Customer service rep Steven Weinstein answered the call from a female customer who required assistance with an online order for several items. The pair struck up a...
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Otto Rohwedder

The bread slicing machine was invented 15 years before sliced bread became popular. Sliced bread didn’t catch on because Otto Rohwedder, the guy who invented the...
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Shigeru Miyamoto

Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, a titan of the video game industry. He joined Nintendo just when it was shifting focus from creating playing cards...
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Kobe Bryant

Even after Kobe quit basketball, his hard work did not end. He won the academy award at The Oscars earlier this year for his animated short...
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Whitney Wolfe

The skeptics thought no woman would ever make the first move. But Whitney Wolfe Herd, young, creative, and undaunted, stuck to her guns. In just four...
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John Lee Cronin

John Cronin was born with Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes learning disabilities and developmental delays. But that has not stopped him from gaining major...
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Eric Yuan

Eric Yuan got into collaboration technology for personal reasons. When he was dating his now-wife in his native China, he would take 10-hour train rides from...
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Miriam Brafman

As a designer, Miriam Brafman initially considered starting a design business, or perhaps an e-commerce site. But when she looked for a vendor who could provide...
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Scott Forstall

In 1992, Scott Forstall had just gotten his graduate degree, and lined up interviews with two big tech companies: Microsoft, where he had previously been an...
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Sara Blakely

Before she became the billionaire founder of shapewear company Spanx, Sara Blakely failed a lot. – She didn’t make it as a standup comedian. She couldn’t become a lawyer...
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