100 Great Businesses and the Minds Behind Them

The typical business success story starts like this: Mr X has a brilliant idea in the bath one morning. He calls a friend, and together they build the invention in the garage. Then they go out and sell it from the back of Mr X’s car, and before they know it, they are both
millionaires.We like these stories because they make us think we could easily do the same thing. All we need is that great idea, right?
Miracles do happen. Nike’s Phil Knight did start out selling
running shoes from the back of his car. Pierre Omidyar did just
happen to have an idea for an Internet site—eBay—that made him a
billionaire several times over. James Dyson became one of Britain’s
richest men after inventing a new kind of vacuum cleaner in his
shed.