Most of the startup examples I found on the internet were of people who were first trying to get people to use their web apps and had the problem of not really being able to provide the service for free.
So the idea is that startups are basically a gamble, and if you don’t know if you’ll succeed, it’s better to focus on a few and learn from each of them.
Well, it’s one thing to come up with an idea for a product but quite another thing to actually create it and successfully make it a reality. After all, it’s easy to say that you want to make an app, but to actually make it and make it work is a completely different story.
5 Famous Company Startups That Almost Failed
Here are 5 startups that had to endure difficult periods along the way, but were able to overcome and get to the top.
1. FedEx
The company was founded in 1971 and was an overnight delivery service that only ships packages that weigh up to 25 pounds.
After being in business for around 25 years, it was losing about $1 million a month at that point, but in 2001 the company made a decision to change its business model, and started to take on the overnight delivery of things like books and music. FedEx now offers services like 2 day, 3 day next day, and even same day shipping.
The idea that we could ship a package anyplace in the world and get it back overnight was amazing.
However, at that time, there were still no machines on the market that could produce ethanol from sugar, and thus, Frederick knew that he had to invent and manufacture the first-ever sugar-to-ethanol reactor.
When the planes were about to begin their final descent from the sky to try and land, they were forced to use their emergency system to prevent the loss of money.
On Monday morning, the company had $32,000 in its bank account, enough money to continue operating for the next few days, when it raised a $11 million additional capital by selling its inventory.
FedEx is now worth around $30 billion dollars. It is the sixth largest company in the US and the twelfth largest company in the world.
2. Blogger
Blogger allows anyone to start a blog, and make it look like a professional site, making it pretty easy to get started.
Williams began to gain lots of interest, and so got more capital to hire more staff and expand the company.
The following are all paraphrases. The original sentences contain information not used in the paraphrase.
When the company started to suffer from the dot-com crash, founder Evan Williams decided to let go of every single employee and cut all development costs.
Even with this huge crippling effect on Blogger, Evan still went back to working on Blogger by himself, and 3 years later Google came along and bought the company for millions.
3. Evernote
I had to stop Evernote because I couldn’t see how to make it work when the public markets are down 60%. Evernote was my baby and I loved it but I couldn’t find a way to continue.
That’s all it took, and not only did he receive an app that he could use for free, but it also got him a new job in the Swedish capital.
So, if this story sounds incredible, it’s because it is. But you can’t actually make this part up. The fact is that it really happened.
This is my favorite, which I use a lot
Whenever I start writing an email, I write down the first and last name, the email address, the phone number, the date and the time.
That way my colleague or my boss can be sure that the email was sent, and they don’t have to search through it.
I’m planning to use it a lot myself in the future. I’m going to try to write a few lines for each of my documents.
I’m also going to try to write down the title of my document.
It was a very simple operation. The man had put a call through to a local Swedish friend in Helsinki, Finland, and then Skype’s video chat service connected the two people. The friend in Finland had asked about the investment and was told what to do, and then it was done. He added that it was a very simple operation.
4. AirBNB
Airbnb is a startup where people get to rent out rooms/apartments to others. It is a very popular place in San Francisco to stay while you are in the bay area.
After the founders saw the need for more than just a lead generation company, they started AirBnB. They noticed that there was a market for housing, and that they could use it to bring people together.
Although they were able to generate many thousands of visits, most of them were one-time things and never amounted to any great leads.
While the company was doing well, they were hit with another setback. They were made bankrupt and the investors who invested in their company lost their hard earned money. They had to file the whole company at once.
5. KFC
Colonel Sanders was ready to give up on his brand, because KFC was only growing in name and not in profit. The Colonel’s dream of being the first CEO of a world-renowned company was nearly crushed by one problem.
KFC used to be a very small restaurant that operated on a roadside, but then there was a highway nearby that was built that moved traffic away from the old restaurant, leaving Sanders with hardly any business.
In spite of his efforts, his recipe never became popular. He started to lose faith in his ability to become a famous chef.
When Sanders passed away at the age of 90 years old, people began to speculate on what his life was like in the past and whether they had lived through the same life during the times of the Sanders family. Even though he didn’t achieve his goal for food to become a worldwide sensation, his contribution in its history will last forever.
In Conclusion
While making a small business plan, it’s important to realize that you will fail in one or more of these scenarios if you don’t have a plan to address them.
This shows that the founders are willing to be resilient by keeping going without the promise of a successful future.
I haven’t heard of any other examples of startups that almost failed.
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