The success stories and start up business ideas of the most famous entrepreneurs .
Today, BMW is one of the ten biggest car brands in the world, but did you know that BMW started off manufacturing aircraft engines? BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke, or Bavarian Motor Works in English) is a German company that has been around since 1916. Here is how it all began: 1910 – the company Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik was founded by Gustav Otto in Bavaria. The firm was reorganized on 7 March 1916 into Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG. This company was then renamed to Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) in 1922. However, the name BMW dates back to 1913, when the original company to...
Apple is one of the biggest and most successful companies of our time. It generates more profits than the gross domestic product of a small country and its evaluation recently touched 1 trillion US dollars. That’s a very serious business and it carries the name of a fruit. How come? How did Apple get its name? Why did Steve Jobs name a company after a fruit exactly? Well, this is an interesting story revealing all that mystery about where “Apple” derives from. This is how Apple got its name According to the co-founder of the company, Steve Wozniak, it was...
Tumblr.com has gained prominence in recent years as a microblogging platform that has allowed millions of people around the world to share whatever they like. The reason for the site’s popularity is that you don’t need to write long blog posts in order to stand a chance of getting noticed. If you take photos then you can share them with the world, likewise, if you find something funny online then again you can share it with the world. This platform originated from one man, David Karp, and his lead developer Marco Arment. It was through a lack of patience on...
What Is an Angel Investor Actually? First of all, let’s see what a business angel (angel investor) is. This usually is a wealthy person, who is willing to finance a startup, in exchange for a part of the equity of the financed venture, or for convertible debt. It’s not unusual for business angels to be organized in groups, this way they share the risk, combine their experience and know-how, and can provide much more financing. In many cases, angel investors are retired entrepreneurs or executives in big companies. They often participate in the management of the startup and provide not...
In 1996 Ask.com was launched as ‘Ask Jeeves’, a partnership between entrepreneur David Warthen and venture capitalist Garrett Gruener. The idea was to form a search engine that spurred the users on to ask questions in their natural language rather than keywords. The character of Jeeves was a butler who was based on the popular character from the Jeeves & Wooster books. In 2006 the character was ‘retired’ and the website became known as ask.com. The company grew rapidly during its first few years and its initial stock offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange occurred in 1999. Around the same...
When social media websites became popular, some rose to prominence and remained at the top of search results. Others plowed steadily down the middle of the road, remaining in the peripheral vision of interested online parties. And still, others fizzled out quickly due to keeping their focus too limited. In the case of LiveJournal, a social media outlet designed specifically for blogging, it has remained important depending on the geographical location. Founded in 1999 by Brad Fitzpatrick, a programmer born in Iowa and raised in Oregon, the site grew in popularity over the next few years. It wasn’t until the...
Cisco is a leading multinational technology company known for its advanced networking hardware, software, and services. The company was founded in 1984 and currently holds a strong presence in the enterprise mobility, cybersecurity, and Internet of Things markets. The name of the company was derived from the City of San Francisco. Before, engineers used lowercase for ‘cisco’ because it only came from the name of the said city. According to John Morgridge, the first president of the company, the owners got the name and the logo while driving to Sacramento to register the company, and then they saw the Golden Gate...
Everyone wants to own a car. In this modern day and age, we have a lot of car manufacturers and one of the more noteworthy is Mercedes Benz. I was browsing around the Internet and came across an interesting story about how and where exactly this name came from. So, this is just a short story about why Mercedes is called… Mercedes. This was where the name actually originates from… The name came from the beautiful daughter of Emil Jellinek, her name was Mercedes. A rich banker-sportsman from Vienna, Emil Jellinek, was very fascinated with the success of Daimler Motors in...
Crazy business ideas are one of the best ways to stand out in a crowded marketplace. While traditional business plans may be tried and true, being creative can provide your venture with an edge over the competition. Crazy ideas, when done right, have the potential to revolutionize industries and create waves of new customers. Read these 5 start-up stories and you will be amazed by how 5 really simple business ideas were turned into multi-million dollar businesses. 1. The Slinky ($250 million worth) Everyone should be familiar with the slinky toy and how it can keep even grown-ups entertained for hours....
