How They Started by Carol Tice & David Lester

HOW

THEY

STARTED

How 25 good ideas

became great companies

Carol Tice & David Lester

© Crimson Publishing, 2012

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter authors

MANUFACTURING

SPANX

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT

Electronic Arts

Pixar

SERVICES

Zipcar

INTERNET

eBay

Etsy

Groupon

LinkedIn

Match.com

Twitter

TripAdvisor

Zynga

FOOD AND DRINK

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Gatorade

Jamba Juice

Pinkberry

Whole Foods Market

TECHNOLOGY

BlackBerry (RIM)

Dropbox

Google

AMERICAN CLASSICS

The Coca-Cola Company

IBM

The Walt Disney Company

KFC

Microsoft

Acknowledgements

We must first thank all the founders of the businesses featured who

consented to give detailed, frank and insightful interviews about the very

earliest days of their companies. Many revealed stories and information

that have not been shared publicly before.

Many early-stage investors in these brands, founding team members,

and other associates of the founders were also generous in sharing their

memories and knowledge of the fledgling brands we feature in this book.

And we must also thank the companies, many of which are no longer

run or owned by the original founders. These businesses, in numerous

cases, provided additional supporting information and photography that

they have kindly agreed to let us use here.

Finally, it is appropriate to thank those at Crimson Publishing, who

have spent a considerable amount of time putting this book together.

Carol Tice, as co-author, has been instrumental in securing exclusive

interviews and personally authored 11 chapters herself. Her dedication,

resourcefulness and writing ability have ensured that the stories told here

are unique and of the highest quality. But, as she says, “My biggest

thanks go to my husband Larry ... without you, nothing gets written.”

 How They Started by Carol Tice & David Lester

Introduction

Most of us have come across an idea we think would make an

awesome business. That sixth sense, this-is-special moment when you’re

standing in a place that’s crying out for a new restaurant/bar/whatever. Or

you get that feeling of boiling frustration with a product or experience and

think “this should be so much better.” Truth is, most of us don’t act on

those would-be killer thoughts.

This book is about the people who did. It tells the remarkable stories of

people who had innovative ideas and built them into some of the hottest

businesses on the planet. From afar, the scorching success these

companies have had makes it look easy. It’s not. The stories themselves

are as compelling as most novels, with more twists and turns than most

founders would have anticipated. It’s probably better they didn’t know

what lay ahead, or they might never have started at all.

We decided to write this book to look much more deeply into why and

how some of America’s most successful companies got started. It seems

much harder to set something up from nothing than to take something

that’s working and grow it. And we’ve found it even more fascinating than

we’d expected.

How we selected the companies featured

Of all the many stand-out companies, how did we come up with this list?

We started with the idea that we wanted to write about companies most

people knew about. That way, the stories are more real, and also more

enjoyable.

We knew we wanted a variety—some of America’s established

corporate giants as well as plenty of more recent, fresh and disruptive

startups, which will be more helpful to anyone currently starting up, or

thinking about doing so. We also knew we wanted a selection of business

types—for all the opportunities and great startups in technology, this

nation is home to many young, game-changing companies in other

sectors, too. And we wanted founders from a variety of cities and

backgrounds. Finally, we wanted entertaining stories—and we weren’t

disappointed.

We hope that after reading this book, many of you will feel more

confident about acting on an idea you might have to start or expand a

small business. That’s part of the job we hope this book does.

But some of you will also be struck by how hard it can be to build a

business to that level. And how risky. If some of you finish this book and

decide that starting up might not be for you after all, then we will still have

accomplished something worthwhile.

We don’t believe everyone should start a business. We are often asked

what it takes to start a company and make it a success. Part of what it

takes is the resilience and commitment to get through the hard times that

almost every startup will face along the way. Not everyone has that.

What else does it take? The stories here give us the same answer as

the hundreds of other entrepreneurs we have interviewed or gotten to

know. Mainly, it takes an innovative idea, passion and commitment. With

enough of that, everything else should follow. The other essential

qualities include a willingness to work unbelievably hard, getting at least

comfortable with simple business finances, and the ability and

determination to focus.

What about luck? “Be lucky.” “Good luck.” We use phrases like this all

the time. How important is luck to a startup? You will surely make your

own mind up as you read the chapters here. Our sense is that most

entrepreneurs make their own luck. As the saying goes—the harder you

work, the luckier you get. There are occasions when an entrepreneur

gets lucky, but so long as you work hard and do the right things, at some

stage “luck” is likely to happen to you, too. The people who appear

luckiest are usually the ones who have looked around and seen an

opportunity, and have worked their tails off to make it happen.

One surprising theme in the book is education and money—and in

some cases, the lack of both. Sure, both help, but not having a college

degree or wealthy parents is no longer a barrier to starting your own

business. It’s the American Dream—if you work real hard, you can still

come from nothing, build a business of your own, and make it successful.

For over a hundred years, this country has spawned bold and

ambitious companies which have led the world in many different sectors.

And arguably, this has never been more true than now, with American

entrepreneurs leading the world in many fields. And that is no

coincidence.

America is a truly great country for a startup. The culture is unusually

open to new ventures, which means it is cooler and more acceptable to

start a business here than in probably any other country. There is much

better access to financing than anywhere else, too—the business angel

and venture capital communities are better developed and more open to

startups. There are many top-notch business schools and unrivalled

support—magazines, websites and blogs, books, and so on. And right

now, America offers the biggest market in the world; all-accessible with a

common language and robust infrastructure. Taken together, these are

huge advantages. Against that, there is probably more competition here

than any place else, too.

There has probably never been a better time to start a new business—

there is more affordable technology lowering the barriers to entry, new

digital opportunities everywhere and more help and resources to support

entrepreneurs than ever before. Today, you can set up faster and

cheaper than ever before, and access national and international markets

straight away.

We hope that some of you will read this book and be so inspired you

go on to build a great company—and feature in a new edition a few years

from now.

But more than anything else, we hope you enjoy reading this book as

much as we enjoyed creating it.

David Lester (editor) and

Carol Tice (main author)

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