

Ask HN: What are some examples of people asking for things that are out of reach - karcher6554

Bo Peabody got rejected from Williams College, and wrote them a letter saying “I reject your rejection.” Who would ever have the chutzpah to send a letter like that back to a college? He kept following up, eventually got in.
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byoung2
Legend has it that Ira Ritter (creator and publisher of Playgirl Magazine)
worked as a golf caddy at a country club during college. One of his regular
customers was a wealthy businessman who was always telling stories about how
he got started in business and giving advice. One day he gave Ira a useful
piece of advice: "in business, when you want something, it never hurts to just
come right out and ask for it." Ira took that advice and immediately asked for
$10,000. The businessman pulled out his checkbook and wrote him a check for
$10,000 which he used to start Playgirl Magazine. I'm not sure how much that
story has been embellished over the years, but that's how I heard him tell it.

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mechanical_fish
If you want to read the story where the "founder" gets the money, then skips
town and spends the money on hookers and booze, you need to talk to other
folks than Ira Ritter:

<http://www.amazon.com/Big-Story-Confidence-Man/dp/0385495382>

The stories in _The Big Con_ demonstrate convincingly that businessmen will,
in fact, often just give you money if you ask them for it while wearing the
right kind of suit.

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twelch
Sahar Hashemi, founder of the Coffee Republic chain, said "When we tried to
start up Coffee Republic, we were turned down by 19 bank managers. I was told
we were a nation of tea drinkers and no one was going to want to spend more
than 60p for a cup of coffee or use silly names such as skinny lattes."

This is from The Power of No: <http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/the-power-of-
no-1.746628>

It's a great question, and could be an inspiring thread if we can get some
more examples.

