If running a successful business was easy, then everyone would have their own company. But the truth of the matter is that a lot goes into managing and creating a business, and it is certainly very difficult. This is especially true for business owners looking to take their company to a national, or even global level. The logistics involved opening stores in a neighboring state for the first time, for example, are tremendous. Even when your business is massive and hugely profitable, you cannot simply just coast on your success. There are a variety of incredibly successful business out there that almost failed and lost everything, and many make for interesting stories. Let’s examine a few different companies today that are massively profitable and huge, yet at one time, almost went completely bankrupt.
5. Airbnb
Airbnb is a relatively new company that has been making a lot of waves recently (you might have seen one of their advertisements on television). Essentially they are a website that provides a service for users who are attempting to seek out lodging when traveling. Users create accounts and then can interact with either potential renters or property owners across the world. If you are someone seeking housing, then basically you can directly communicate with homeowners and rent a house/apartment/room at a relatively low price point rather than staying in a hotel, for example. The company was founded in 2008, and while they are extremely successful now, things weren’t always that great. When Airbnb was initially a startup, the founders spent a lot of money in an attempt to secure potential homeowners that were willing to rent properties. They racked up an insane amount of debt doing this and almost went completely bankrupt. However they eventually secured solid investors, and of last year, Airbnb has be valuated close to $10 billion dollars.
4. Evernote
Evernote is a private American company that produces and offers a suite of software that is specifically designed for taking notes. Their services are pretty great, as you can access your notes on virtually all computer and cell phone platforms. Their basic services are free to use and they also have a paid model where users gain access to more features. Today they are a multi-million dollar company, however they almost lost everything back in their early days. After the equity market crashed a few years ago, Evernote was struggling to stay afloat as almost 60% of their company value was lost. Days away from ending it all, CEO Phil Libin received an email at 3 a.m., as the story goes, from a random man in Sweden. This Swedish man wanted to thank the company for their great software. Bored, Phil entered in a Skype call with the man to tell him that he was appreciative of his thanks and inform him about the future of the company. After a short conversation, Phil mentioned their financial woes. Then out of nowhere, the Swedish fellow offer Phil a $500,000 dollar investment to keep the company alive. Phil received the money a week later, and that investment that came from seeming nowhere, helped keep Evernote in business. Today they are basically the industry leader at what they do, and their applications are used by countless individuals across the world.
3. Pyra Labs
Pyra Labs is an American technology company that created the popular service known as Blogger back in 1999. Blogger is a blog-publishing service that was one of the first out there on the market, as the internet was still very young in those days. Pyra Labs was co-founded by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan and their Blogger service ran on a completely free-to-use basis. At first, they were successful as Blogger was widely adapted by users around the world. Pyra Labs raised some capital money and began to hire new staff and expand their new company. However in 2000 the financial market experienced a collapse and Pyra Labs/Blogger were in trouble. In 2001, they began asking users to donate them money so they could continue to operate, however this was not sustainable. Without being able to pay their staff, many employees soon left, and eventually everyone would leave besides Evan. He ran the site on his own, out of his own pocket in an attempt to keep it alive. Blogger and Pyra Labs almost went under many times, but in 2003 the company was eventually bought by Google and now they are doing fine.
2. KFC
Kentucky Fried Chicken is easily the most popular fried chicken fast food restaurant not only in the United State, but the entire world as well. They are now a global company that has over 18,800 different locations across the world and they see billions of dollars in revenue each year. While they are hugely successful now, back in the beginning the company almost never existed. KFC can trace its roots back to 1930 in North Corbin, Kentucky. A man by the name of Harland Sanders found himself operating a small gas station right off of Route 25. He learned to cook at a young age, and always loved his mothers fried chicken, so he began selling it at his gas station. His chicken was a big success among travelers so he eventually opened up a small restaurant across the street. His restaurant solely relied on passing travelers on Route 25, however a much larger highway, Interstate 75, would be created close by. This larger road offered a faster route, so soon he found his restaurant completely empty. Colonel Sanders needed to make money, so he attempted to sell his secret recipe to other restaurants. No one was interested in his recipe for many years, but then when he was 75, he sold his secret recipe for $15 million and then the KFC restaurant chain became popularized.
1. FedEx
Founded in 1971 originally as “Federal Express”, FedEx is another massive company that almost was forced to shut its doors. Founder Frederick Smith poured millions of his own money to originally finance the company, and at first, it was a success. However as they expanded to add airplanes to their shipping fleet, FedEx soon ran into difficulties. Jet fuel is extremely expensive, and FedEx found themselves quickly loosing money. On the verge of bankruptcy, Smith took the companies last $5,000 dollars and headed to Las Vegas. He used that money to gamble on black jack, a risky move for sure, but it actually paid off. He turned that $5,000 into $32,000 and used the money to continue his company. Soon after he secured an $11 million dollar investment, and now they are one of the most reliable shipping companies on the planet.
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