

What's the best startup story you ever heard? - eusman

doesn't have to be about software
======
ballred
If you've never read how Kenneth Cole (shoe/fashion company) started out by
launching a movie production company, it's a great story:
<http://www.kennethcole.com/scripts/aboutus/ourstory.asp>

------
eusman
James Dyson's story is one of the most interesting startup stories I know.
Trying to sell your technology and everyone ignoring you...

<http://www.bestchoicevacuums.com/dyson-story.html>

------
german
Once someone told me about a guy who invented the disk brake, he went to a
racing team to offer it, but they told him "we're looking for something to
speed up our cars, not to slow them down."

At the end, disk brakes helped a lot in racing because drivers could reduce
speed in less time which gave them more time to accelerate.

(I don't know if this is a true story or just a joke, but its a great story!)

------
bboland1
I just read about the 17 year old founder of whateverlife.com yesterday. That
is a great story.

------
alex_c
Gary Dahl, "inventor" of the pet rock.

[http://www.petsdo.com/blog/pet-rock-made-man-multi-
millionai...](http://www.petsdo.com/blog/pet-rock-made-man-multi-
millionaire-6-months-lives)

~~~
Leon
The guy made a million dollars. You know, I had an idea like that once. A long
time ago.

It was a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you
would put on the floor, and it would have different conclusions written on it
that you could jump to.

~~~
paulv
That's the worst idea I've ever heard in my life, Leon.

------
pg
Of all the stories in _Founders at Work_ I think my favorite is Wozniak's. It
still amazes me that he made the entire Apple II by himself, both hardware and
software.

------
prakash
I would say Viaweb and/or Vermeer purely because there is so much information
about them.

------
aandreev
My personal favorite is the story of the Lycos founder in "Founders at Work".
The guy just got a call from a VC, saying "we will give you money if you run a
company with this great search technology we bought".

------
byrneseyeview
Epiphyte: [http://zgp.org/pipermail/linux-
elitists/1999-December/000074...](http://zgp.org/pipermail/linux-
elitists/1999-December/000074.html)

------
abstractbill
I enjoy reading about the early days of Netscape:

<http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/nscpdorm.html>

------
toisanji
Please help keep all these stories at: <http://startupflames.com/>

~~~
joe
Oops, looks like a few got out.

------
falsestprophet
"The New New Thing" by Michael Lewis

