massive success stories
Discussion
Just got back from a weekend staying at wife's brother's place with his family.
Guy is 37. When he was 35 he sold 25% of his business to a VC. Valuation 40m. Digital business. I think there are around 10 employees.
they are now growing through acquisition
dude is obviously v smart and went to public school on a scholarship but no one gave him anything. All completely self made and self taught.
Share your stories!
Guy is 37. When he was 35 he sold 25% of his business to a VC. Valuation 40m. Digital business. I think there are around 10 employees.
they are now growing through acquisition
dude is obviously v smart and went to public school on a scholarship but no one gave him anything. All completely self made and self taught.
Share your stories!
Friend of a friend, from university days.
Nice guy, nice family.
Created an app that solved a fairly simple problem for a high net-worth demographic of families. Also had application in other countries.
Sold it in his early/mid-30s for, IIRC, about £8m.
Set for life. Never had to work again. Concentrated on raising his family and dabbling in investments to keep him busy.
One could argue that if he'd really pursued it and gone global, £8m was a fraction of what he could have got. But I like the idea of cashing out with a still-life-changing number and choosing your path for the rest of your days.
Nice guy, nice family.
Created an app that solved a fairly simple problem for a high net-worth demographic of families. Also had application in other countries.
Sold it in his early/mid-30s for, IIRC, about £8m.
Set for life. Never had to work again. Concentrated on raising his family and dabbling in investments to keep him busy.
One could argue that if he'd really pursued it and gone global, £8m was a fraction of what he could have got. But I like the idea of cashing out with a still-life-changing number and choosing your path for the rest of your days.
A guy who i went to school.with set up a company which did something with Google ads. His.company was valued at £1Billion and he invested in some household name websites for a while.
I don't know if he still associated with the company or he sold out but can't imagine money issues are part of his life.
Good on him!
I don't know if he still associated with the company or he sold out but can't imagine money issues are part of his life.
Good on him!
These stories are fairly common. I know of a lot of people who made a lot of money very quickly.
One deal with an enormous retailer for their imported product, making £400,000 a week in profit week in week out at the moment. Branded at the factory and drop shipped. Him and his brother. Love stories like this.
One deal with an enormous retailer for their imported product, making £400,000 a week in profit week in week out at the moment. Branded at the factory and drop shipped. Him and his brother. Love stories like this.
I missed a plane home once (1997) and, because I had several hours to kill, I went to the nearby exhibition centre. There was a trade expo on, about which I knew nothing. I got talking to the German exhibitors on one stand and asked them why they didn't trade in the UK. They told me it was because there was no market there for what they did.
I disagreed, set up in business to prove them wrong, and five years later, they bought the company. I've been on their board of directors ever since.
It's not a 'massive' success story, because we negotiated a put-and-call, so I still haven't been paid!
I disagreed, set up in business to prove them wrong, and five years later, they bought the company. I've been on their board of directors ever since.
It's not a 'massive' success story, because we negotiated a put-and-call, so I still haven't been paid!
Chap I worked with is now a household name.
He was universally disliked by his staff, who refused to work for him at one point. Gareth Keenan sort of figure.
He fetched my new company car for me, chewed his nails en route and spat the nails on the dashboard.
He started his own business (I won't say what) and grew by acquisition.
With each interview he gave, he embellished his past more and more, changing the names of the companies he had worked for. The company where we worked together was not well known, so he said he had worked for a different and far bigger one.
An utterly annoying tit and a complete bull-s
tter. But successful. He worked hard, so he deserved it.
He was universally disliked by his staff, who refused to work for him at one point. Gareth Keenan sort of figure.
He fetched my new company car for me, chewed his nails en route and spat the nails on the dashboard.
He started his own business (I won't say what) and grew by acquisition.
With each interview he gave, he embellished his past more and more, changing the names of the companies he had worked for. The company where we worked together was not well known, so he said he had worked for a different and far bigger one.
An utterly annoying tit and a complete bull-s
tter. But successful. He worked hard, so he deserved it.A good friend joined a smaller underwriting company straight out of school/A levels as we all went to University. He studied in the evenings, got his qualifications and worked, hard. The company grew massively, went through many PE/managed buy outs and at mid-30's he's now very senior and bought his mid-7 digit value house in a very nice area for cash a few years ago.
I was listening to a podcast this morning en route to my 9-8 job. Which I really want to get out of but I'll talk about that another time.
They were talking about agency and I think you might describe that as having the bks to do something. They said that two guys fall from the sky on to a desert island. One gathers a load of wood and spells out help on the beach hoping that an aircraft will fly by and his sign will be spotted. Other guy makes a raft and gets himself off the island. One is waiting for st to happen. One is making st happen. Same resources.
They were talking about agency and I think you might describe that as having the b
ks to do something. They said that two guys fall from the sky on to a desert island. One gathers a load of wood and spells out help on the beach hoping that an aircraft will fly by and his sign will be spotted. Other guy makes a raft and gets himself off the island. One is waiting for st to happen. One is making st happen. Same resources. Muzzer79 said:
But I like the idea of cashing out with a still-life-changing number and choosing your path for the rest of your days.
I’ve met a few people who’ve had similar levels of success, they always say they will quit when they sell, but o found the reality to be different. One retired aged 61 with his share of a £13m buyout of our tech distributor, worth about £2.5m for him. He went to chef school as he always wanted to learn to cook. Made the first family lasagne where the ingredients famously cost him £75, taking him 6.5hrs to cook.
He lasted about 1yr doing all the stuff he promised himself he would do and then joined up with 1 of the other 4 directors to start again do what he knew.
Doofus said:
I missed a plane home once (1997) and, because I had several hours to kill, I went to the nearby exhibition centre. There was a trade expo on, about which I knew nothing. I got talking to the German exhibitors on one stand and asked them why they didn't trade in the UK. They told me it was because there was no market there for what they did.
I disagreed, set up in business to prove them wrong, and five years later, they bought the company. I've been on their board of directors ever since.
It's not a 'massive' success story, because we negotiated a put-and-call, so I still haven't been paid!
Similar to how one of my businesses started. Guy setting up at an exhibition in Germany, being laughed at by competitors with his new product. We got chatting and helped him out on the stand, brought the product over to the UK and now sell more than all our competitors combined as it's as good a product as the best of them, but better VFM.I disagreed, set up in business to prove them wrong, and five years later, they bought the company. I've been on their board of directors ever since.
It's not a 'massive' success story, because we negotiated a put-and-call, so I still haven't been paid!
All came from being friendly and offering him a hand when others wouldn't. Quite a lot of time it's right place, right time.
My brother in law, started with nothing having attended state schools set himself up in business aged 18
Now in his early 50's runs a global business, has homes in multiple countries, is on the Sunday Times rich list and gets invited to Presidential inaugurations ( not just the US one! ) and last week was a guest at the Vatican for the Pope's first address
I think he's done alright
Now in his early 50's runs a global business, has homes in multiple countries, is on the Sunday Times rich list and gets invited to Presidential inaugurations ( not just the US one! ) and last week was a guest at the Vatican for the Pope's first address
I think he's done alright
Earthdweller said:
My brother in law, started with nothing having attended state schools set himself up in business aged 18
Now in his early 50's runs a global business, has homes in multiple countries, is on the Sunday Times rich list and gets invited to Presidential inaugurations ( not just the US one! ) and last week was a guest at the Vatican for the Pope's first address
I think he's done alright
Yacht in Monaco too I trust!Now in his early 50's runs a global business, has homes in multiple countries, is on the Sunday Times rich list and gets invited to Presidential inaugurations ( not just the US one! ) and last week was a guest at the Vatican for the Pope's first address
I think he's done alright
gangzoom said:
That bit cannot be true 
.
I have to be careful not to give too much away but yes, born outside London started school there where his dad worked on building sites before moving away and went to the same secondary school my wife went too and my son now attends .And no his initials aren't JR
AB said:
These stories are fairly common. I know of a lot of people who made a lot of money very quickly.
One deal with an enormous retailer for their imported product, making £400,000 a week in profit week in week out at the moment. Branded at the factory and drop shipped. Him and his brother. Love stories like this.
Getting close to venturing into this kind of set up. Sounds amazingly successful.One deal with an enormous retailer for their imported product, making £400,000 a week in profit week in week out at the moment. Branded at the factory and drop shipped. Him and his brother. Love stories like this.
If you don’t mind… is this a very well marketed/sorted/niche “white label” type thing or a custom/developed product?
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