Garages vs. Dorm Rooms: Which is Best to Start a Globally Successful Company?
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Have you got aspirations of being a successful entrepreneur, building your own goliath of a business out of nothing and going down in history as a “start-up success story”?
Aside from having a good idea and knowledge of the trends developing around you in the business world, it also seems that it can help if you are currently residing in a college dorm room or have a garage to base yourself in!
Don’t believe me? Check out these massively successful companies that were all born in less-than-impressive locations.
Garage Start-Ups
1.) Amazon
Amazon has become almost monolithically ubiquitous in the world of online retail, seemingly selling everything that a modern and functioning member of society could ever need.
But even giants must have humble beginnings, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos began the company in his Washington garage in 1994. The first book sold through Amazon was in 1995 and two years later Bezos was able to issue his first IPO and that, quite frankly, was the start of that…
2.) Apple
What is today the most valuable tech company in the world began in a California garage with an order of 50 units at $500 each of Steve Wozniak’s Apple 1 computer. Wozniak and Steve Jobs then constructed the computers themselves in 30 days using ordered parts.
3.) Disney
The first ever Disney studio was located in the garage of a house in California that was owned by Walt’s uncle, Robert Disney. It was here in 1923 that the very first productions were made of what would go on to become one of the highest-grossing media conglomerates in history we.
4.) Mattel
The largest toy company in the world today began in the garage in 1945 when Harold Matson and Eliot Handler began using old picture frames to construct dollhouses.
When the sales of these dollhouses began to explode the duo turned their attention properly to the world of toys and took off into the business stratosphere.
Dorm Room Start-Ups
1.) Google
The two founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, began to develop their ideas together whilst working on the Stanford Digital Library Project.
What began as thoughts of designing a simpler and more responsive search engine has since blossomed and bloomed into one of the world’s largest companies, and dare I say a very complex search engine even if it appears simple to the end user.
2.) Facebook
If you have not seen the film The Social Network then you probably should, detailing as it does the story of betrayal, genius, allegations of theft and Harvard dorm rooms behind this extraordinary business from an extraordinarily young entrepreneur.
Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of the college to pursue his project full time and it has now become a social network of gargantuan propositions with over 500 million users.
3.) Microsoft
Bill Gates founded the computer giant while he was a student at Harvard, although he later dropped out to focus all of his attention on the growth of his software empire (spotting a trend here?). It was a probably a good move, since he went on to become one of the richest people ever to have lived.
4.) FedEx
The idea for FedEx was born out of a term paper submitted by its founder Fred Smith while he was at Yale. The paper detailed Mr Smith’s thoughts on how the shipping industry would have to evolve to match advances in communication technology.
The idea was a good one, so good in fact that he went ahead and set the business up which today brings in around $40 billion a year!
So there you go potential millionaires, some of the largest companies and the most humble of beginnings have been laid out before you.
So which is the best? That, I suppose, depends on which business you see as the most successful. Is it Google which almost every person ever to browse the internet has used, or perhaps Apple whose products grace the desks and pockets of everyone with money?
This article serves to prove that you don’t always need a major investment to start a successful business, just a really brilliant idea and the belief, passion and dedication to make it happen! Oh, and a dorm, garage or other small space to work in…
What do you think is best for a start-up, the grounds of a college awash with burgeoning intellect, or a simple garage at home where you can escape from it all and focus fully on what you’re trying to do?
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