Most Famous Entrepreneurs of All Time (and What Made Them Wildly Rich)
Disrupt the industry: Ambani disrupted the Indian telecom provider category by introducing Jio (which is now the #1 Indian telecommunications company). He introduced Jio by offering HUGE discounts on data and also provided unlimited calls to any network for free.
Most Famous Entrepreneurs in the World | What to Learn from Them [2022 Updated List]
This post comprises the list of some of the best entrepreneurs to follow in the modern age. We also included their net worth, favorite quotes, and lessons we can all learn from the top entrepreneurs in the world.
Honestly, there are way too many definitions for the word “entrepreneurship”. In Steve Jobs’ perspective, entrepreneurship is all about doing really crazy things to accomplish amazing things. It’s simply putting a dent in the universe.
The idea of entrepreneurship revolves mostly around having an Idea, working on it until it is materialized, facing challenges daily, competing with others in your industry, and ultimately increasing the profits of your business.
Enough said about entrepreneurship, now let’s jump directly into the list of some of the best entrepreneurs you can follow in 2022 and beyond. As a bonus, we have compiled one quote from each of the famous entrepreneurs into our list.
Most Famous Entrepreneurs of Modern Age
1. Jeff Bezos
On July 5, 1994, Jeff opened Amazon.com, named after the meandering South American river where he initially sold books across the US and in 45 foreign countries within 30 days. Later, he also started delivering CDs, videos, clothes, electronics, toys, and more.
He initially sold books through Amazon.com (which was only available for US audiences). Within 30 days after launching Amazon, it was doing $20,000 per week in sales. Then he started selling other things including CDs, toys, gadgets, clothes, and so on.
It literally went from being the “bookstore” to “everything store” in no time. If you’re just getting started, instead of going for too many things at once, focus on one thing. Start small, be consistent, and grow big. That’s what you can learn from one of the world’s richest people: Jeff Bezos.
“If you decide that you’re going to do only the things you know are going to work, you’re going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table. Companies are rarely criticized for the things that they failed to try. But they are, many times, criticized for things they tried and failed at.”
2. Bill Gates
Bill Gates is one of the world’s richest people. From 1995 to 2017, Bill Gates held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world all but 4 of those years. He is also known for his philanthropist activities such as the Melinda Foundation and his current net worth is over $130 billion dollars.
Be your own boss and start early: One of the primary reasons Bill Gates had huge success was because he started early. Believe it or not, he was only 13 years old when he started working with computers.
Bill Gates became his own boss (although he partnered up with dozens of people including Paul Allen) at an early age. He didn’t waste any time working for others, so if you want to be like Bill Gates, start early and work on your own dreams.
3. Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist who studied at Harvard University. He is one of the richest people on the planet right now, with an estimated net worth of over $80 billion dollars.
He’s the ONLY person under 50 in the Forbes ten richest people list and also the only one under 40 in the “Top 20 Billionaires” list. His social networking company Facebook has over 2.9 billion active users monthly!
Don’t chase money: Mark Zuckerberg never set out to acquire wealth. Here’s what he said once: “My goal was never to just create a company. A lot of people misinterpret that as if I don’t care about revenue or profit or any of those things. But what not being ‘just’ a company means to me is building something that actually makes a really big change in the world.”
4. Larry Page And Sergey Brin
Invention and marketing are the keys to success: Here’s what Larry Page once said: “Invention is not enough. [Nikola] Tesla invented the electric power we use, but he struggled to get it out to people. You have to combine both things: invention and innovation focus, plus a company that can commercialize things and get them to people.”
Google has succeeded because of two reasons: it satisfied the searcher’s needs (by giving the best possible results), and it also became the synonym most people use for the word “search”. If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, find ways to market your products so they reach a wider audience.
5. Richard Branson
Richard Branson holds the Virgin Group and he is also the first and only person to cross the Atlantic in the largest hot air balloon. He later on broke his own record by crossing the Pacific in a Virgin hot air balloon.
Enjoy what you do: Richard Branson enjoys his work and he parties hard. Believe it or not, he owns 2 private islands. He rents out one of them, and the other island, which is known as nectar island, is where he parties along with celebrities including Mariah Carey, Kate Winslet, Oprah, David Beckham, and so on.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney started off as a farm boy drawing cartoon pictures of his neighbor’s horses for fun. When he was older, Walt tried to get a job as a newspaper cartoonist, but was unable to find one and ended up working in an art studio where he created ads for newspapers and magazines. Eventually he grew to work on commercials, became interested in animation, and eventually opened his own animation company.
Disney’s first original character creation was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but it was officially owned by Universal Pictures because he was working under contract at the time. When Walt walked out on Universal Pictures after getting a pay cut, he needed to create a replacement, which is how Mickey Mouse came into being.
Disney was wildly successful with his animation company, but he wasn’t satisfied. He was determined to make the biggest and greatest theme park ever seen, saying to a colleague, "I want it to look like nothing else in the world."
Distinguishing Entrepreneurs from Small Business Owners
These bakers are not entrepreneurs. They run their small bakery for the sole purpose of providing an income for themselves and their families (a salary-substitute firm) or to earn a living while pursuing their hobby of baking (a lifestyle firm).
Though most entrepreneurial ventures begin as small businesses, not all small business owners are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are innovators who start companies to create new or improved products. They strive to meet a need that’s not being met, and their goal is to grow the business and eventually expand into other markets.
In contrast, many people either start or buy small businesses for the sole purpose of providing an income for themselves and their families. They do not intend to be particularly innovative, nor do they plan to expand significantly. This desire to operate is what’s sometimes called a “lifestyle business” (Allen, 2001). The neighborhood pizza parlor or beauty shop, the self-employed consultant who works out of the home, and even a local printing company—all of these are typical lifestyle businesses. In Section 5.2 “The Importance of Small Business to the U.S. Economy”, we discuss the positive influences that both lifestyle and entrepreneurial businesses have on the U.S. economy.
Key Takeaways
To determine whether you’re one of the “right people” to exploit the advantages of starting your own business, the SBA suggests that you assess your strengths and weaknesses by asking yourself the following questions:
Exercise
We’ll also add that entrepreneurs usually start small. They begin with limited resources and build their businesses through personal effort. At the end of the day, their success depends on their ability to manage and grow the organization that they created to implement their vision.
Sources:
https://bloggerspassion.com/famous-entrepreneurs/
https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/11-most-famous-entrepreneurs-of-all-time-and-what-made-them-wildly-rich.html
https://open.lib.umn.edu/exploringbusiness/chapter/5-1-what-is-an-entrepreneur/