Twelve founders who didn't fit the "typical entrepreneur" mould.
- Oprah Winfrey — from poverty to media empire
- Howard Schultz — Brooklyn projects to Starbucks
- Madam C.J. Walker — America's first self-made female millionaire, from laundress to cosmetics magnate
- Sara Blakely — door-to-door fax sales to Spanx founder
- Jan Koum — food stamps to WhatsApp sale
- Do Won Chang — Korean coffee-shop worker to Forever 21
- Leonardo Del Vecchio — orphanage to Luxottica
- Chris Gardner — homeless to brokerage owner
- Francois Pinault — left school at 16; built Kering
- Ursula Burns — Lower East Side projects to Xerox CEO
- Richard Branson — dyslexic teenager to Virgin Group
- Li Ka-shing — Chinese refugee to plastics fortune
Common threads: relentless execution, comfort with rejection, long time horizons. Luck was present but not sufficient.
Comments (0)