Becoming an empire: how the 5 world-famous companies started

The stories of business empires are inspiring because their path has not always been smooth. You can look at them and believe that hard work and determination will bring success.

Dell

Michael Dell founded Dell at age 19. Before that, he gained experience in other areas. At the age of 12, he was selling magazines. He tested sales techniques by offering newcomers a two-week trial subscription. At the heart of his company, he laid down unique principles. Dell builds computers to order without using warehouses or intermediaries. Each order comes with a host of attractive perks, including service support. This was the key to the company’s success.

Disney

Walt Disney’s penchant for drawing was apparent in his early childhood. He always dreamed of creating his own characters. He drew comics, cartoons and other things. He suffered a number of setbacks while being fired from a newspaper. Animation studios rejected his ideas. However, he did not give up. The start of his empire was the successful release of a cartoon based on Lewis Carroll’s fairy tales. Today, Disney is not just an animation studio. It is an entire entertainment industry.

L’Oreal

Eugène Schuller was a chemist by training. In the early 20th century he created a pioneering hair dye. And two decades later his small company was selling other hair products, perfumes. In the middle of the 20th century, his daughter succeeded her father as head of L’Oreal. She managed to achieve a very different scale of the company. The concern allowed itself to spend up to 30% of its income on advertising and acquire other brands. Today L’Oreal had 500 brands.

Virgin Group

Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin conglomerate, has always been famous for his flamboyant behaviour. He graduated from school with the worst student status. His principal predicted his future as a criminal or… a millionaire! And so it happened. Branson took up everything that brought any profit: sold records and jewellery, organized balloon flights, tried himself as a publisher. As a result, anything could be found under the Virgin name. Various carriers, providers, car manufacturers, printers and more are part of the group. And Richard Branson himself to this day denies any formality, drinks beer at work meetings and wears the same jumper everywhere.

Hilton

The hotel business made Conrad Hilton and his family famous. The first hotel opened in 1925. And it successfully survived the Great Depression. The hotel quickly became a chain and two or three decades later Hilton was able to buy the business of competitors. The founder introduced innovations that have become commonplace today. For example, the number of stars as well as the organization of entertainment facilities in hotels. This allowed the chain to become the best in the world. Today its hotels are in 88 countries worldwide. It is still run by members of the Hilton family.

As these examples show, behind every company there is a man who was not afraid and took a risk and followed his dream. After all, any success begins with the first step.