Blown Away by Big Ideas: $500 Start-Ups

Before I officially became a corporate escapee I would often watch the The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on MSNBC. Today I was particularly invigorated and motivated to prod away at business ideas by some very impressive success stories that appeared on the show tonight. The featured guests all initially invested less than $500 to create multi-million dollar businesses. I've summarized their inspirational stories below.

Turbo Tap
Turbo Tap was the brain child of a college student impatiently waiting in line for beer. After noticing how long it was taking for the tap to be drawn, he endeavored to design a faster tap in conjunction with an invention competition held at his university. With $200 of seed money provided to the contestants, he enlisted two of his engineering friends in his efforts. Their submission won first prize along with $10,000. A portion of the proceeds was set aside for research and development of the tap invention. Their first proposal with Anheuser-Busch failed due to a faulty prototype. Lesson learned, their next meeting with Wrigley Field concession representatives went much better with an agreement to test the product live at the ball park. The new, improved tap saved money by limiting waste and speeding sales rendering Turbo Tap a success.

Bear Naked Granola
Here is a relatively simple story: An active, outdoor college girl makes good homemade granola. After graduation she decides to employ herself by selling her granola. She creates a small batch of product, packages it in sandwich bags marked with computer labels, and managed to sell them to a small local store. The product sells, and the store places a larger order. A childhood friend believes in her product and joins forces with her. They rent commercial kitchen space at night from a grocery store to cook up their orders. Later in order to expand their operation, they stage an early morning meeting, providing the breakfast, with the head of a chain of gourmet stores. The head is out of town, but "junior" isn't. They approach the son instead, and he buys a multi-store order which propels the careers of both himself and Bear Naked Granola.

Sinus Buster
As a self-defense instructor, Wayne Perry would use pepper-spray on himself to illustrate its effectiveness in repelling attacks. He later noticed that his chronic, sinus headaches cleared after these demonstrations. So he concocted a sinus headache remedy based on its active ingredient, capsaicin, for his personal use. Years later and broke, Wayne used his last $350 to create a batch of his special potion, bottled it in nasal spray containers, and offered it up for sale on eBay. Intending simply to create a bit of cash flow, the huge response for his product ended up launching a profitable business instead.

Triple Crown Publications
Vickie Stringer was a former inmate who wrote an autobiography six weeks prior to her release from prison. The book was meant to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of getting involved with drug dealers. Twenty-six publishers and agents passed on her manuscript. So Vickie decided to self-publish a single, professionally bound book for a few hundred dollars. She showed her book to friends and family, asking for no more than $100 each to invest in both her and her story. She raised $1500, self-published several more copies of the book, and sold these out of the trunk of her car and at the bar she tended. The buzz generated by her book got her noticed and allowed her to start her own company, backed by industry partners. Today the company has published over 25 authors and is a leader in raw, urban works.

Tom's Shoes
On a trip to Argentina, Blake Mycoskie was disturbed by the prevalence of unshod children, too poor to own shoes, whose feet were dirty and mangled. A native friend of his happened to be wearing a traditional Argentinian shoe when Blake had an epiphany: create a company where for every shoe sold, one was donated to a child in need. His friend was so touched by the idea that he volunteered to manufacture a variety of samples to test market - Blake need only buy the materials. Back in the states, Blake asked his stylish female friends to advise him on the top retail establishments to target. He sold his shoes at his first prospect, a boutique in Los Angeles. A small time reporter, hearing about his story, asked to interview him. The resulting article, which included photos of the colorful, lightweight shoes, ended up being featured by a big time newspaper. Orders started flooding in immediately and Blake had no staff to handle the load. So he took out an ad in Craigslist offering a future monetary upside potential for free internship today. Those interns are now the highest paid in the company. The company became a success with admiration from the likes of designer Karl Lagerfeld and actress Sienna Miller.

Further details on the company origins, products, and accomplishments can be found by visiting the linked websites. Each story illustrated different business factors.

• Turbo Tap exhibited design improvement and inventiveness.
• Sinus Buster was a result of both discovery and innovation.
• Bear Naked Granola relied on feed back and marketing.
• Triple Crown was formed with determination and persistence.
• Tom's Shoes used reciprosity to create win-win scenarios.

In all cases, there was belief in the viability of the product and a resolve to succeed. But the most important lesson for me is that it can be done.