The road to a successful business isn’t always easy, as many entrepreneurs will tell you. These entrepreneurs have each taken their own path to startup success, which includes both failure and success for you to learn from. Continue reading to learn more about the most successful business startups that have revolutionized their respective industries with Startups Basics
Airbnb
Airbnb is without a doubt one of the most amazing startup success stories. Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia founded the site in 2007 after noticing an influx of visitors to the city during the Industrial Design conference and a dearth of accessible hotels after recently relocating from New York to San Francisco. Needless to say, they viewed this as a chance to supplement their income by renting out their room, and so Airbnb was created.
Airbnb, on the other hand, did not become a millionaire overnight. Airbnb’s founders had to wait years for finance and even longer to turn a profit, necessitating perseverance and a side hustle to make ends meet. Airbnb is now worth roughly $3.4 billion, proving the value of sticking to a good idea. Airbnb demonstrates that brilliant ideas are frequently the result of a search for a solution to a common issue.
Instagram, on the other hand, grew quickly from the outset. Under the name Burbn, Founder Kevin Systrom launched Instagram, a photo-sharing app, and gained 25,000 users in a single day. This is partly owing to Systrom’s early success in securing venture capital funding to launch the app. Furthermore, the photo-sharing option was both unique and intriguing at the time, while many apps emphasized location-sharing.
The startup’s true breakthrough came when it changed its revenue strategy, renamed itself Instagram, and released an iOS app. After that, Instagram gained 100,000 users in the first week, and one million in less than two months. What Instagram got right was spotting a gap in the social media apps of the moment and shifting the business model to reach a larger audience.
Uber
Uber’s successful tech startup story is riddled with rapid development, controversy, and motivation for both young and seasoned entrepreneurs. In 2008, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, two former successful business entrepreneurs, came up with the concept for Uber, the popular ride-sharing software. When the two couldn’t find a cab on a cold winter night in Paris, they devised a solution to their own problem: the ability to book a vehicle using your phone.
Uber Technologies was founded in 2009 and swiftly rose to the top of the list of the most successful business startups in the world. Lime and Postmates are two of the company’s competitors that it has purchased recently. What began as a simple remedy to a widespread issue turned into a gold mine for the entrepreneurs who made it possible.
Pinterest is the next company on our list of most successful business startups. Pinterest, unlike many other startups, was not created with the intention of attracting tech-savvy consumers. Pinterest was designed to be utilized by anybody, regardless of whether or not they live in Silicon Valley. But founders Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp, and Paul Sciarra didn’t stop there; their focus on improving the experience for existing users and providing an entirely unique social media experience helped Pinterest grow to an $11 billion corporation.
Pinterest was first an invite-only platform. The exclusivity allowed the company to focus on providing the experience that customers want; Ben Silbermann even provided his personal phone number to consumers so that they could contact him about the site at any time of day or night. Clearly, the hard work paid off. Pinterest is still a distinct (and profitable) platform that focuses on sharing, saving, and organizing hobbies rather than live updates, which helps it stand out from the crowd.
Pandora
Pandora – one of the most successful business startups, a music streaming service, sprang out of creator Tim Westergren’s Music Genome Project and a deep love of music. Westergren’s experience as a touring musician and feature film composer led to two key realizations: there were a lot of undiscovered musical acts, and there was a need for technology to create musical profiles based on personal preferences.
It was not, however, an easy journey. Despite getting significant finance at the outset, the project ran into various roadblocks along the way, leading to nearly two years of unpaid employees, 11 maxed-out credit cards, $500,000 in personal debt, and five employee lawsuits. But there’s a happy ending to this story. Employees were paid after all disputes were addressed. After a successful launch, Sirius XM Holdings purchased Pandora for $3.5 billion.
Netflix
Netflix is a shining example of how pivoting a business model can drastically change the trajectory of a company. Originally a rent-by-mail DVD service that required customers to pay for each rental, Netflix is now worth over $30 billion and a shining example of how pivoting a business model can dramatically change the trajectory of a company. Not only that but when Netflix first launched, it was one of the first companies to offer a DVD rental service that delivered the product to the customer’s door.
The company has had its share of setbacks and controversies, but its ability to bounce back is a credit to its founders’ commercial acumen. Netflix was able to further establish itself as the go-to media company by pivoting from DVD by mail to award-winning content and maintaining a stable trajectory in the face of a slew of competition.
The most successful business startups have never had it easy when they first began. In fact, for the vast majority of them, the product looked substantially different, addressed a completely different need, and targeted a completely different market!
The intimate tales of six of today’s most successful firms have been assembled. They all started with a simple concept and have progressed to where they are now.
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