""Highly leveraged and financially distressed" says it all. Companies like that do not have the capital to:
a/ create new technology
Perhaps I am missing something, so please educate me.
OK, how about this:
6 $25 Billion Companies That Started in a Garage
BY DREW HENDRICKS @DREWAHENDRICKS
Every new company has to begin somewhere. These 6 world-famous ones--worth more than $25 billion each--started in garages.
Google
Yes, the world's most famous search engine was actually started in a garage. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, graduates of Stanford University, rented a garage from a friend, Susan Wojcicki, in September of 1998. They worked day and night for a number of months and developed what would be known as Google. Their main goal while creating the website was to organize and maintain all kinds of information on a single platform accessible to common people all over the world. Today, Google is the most commonly used search engine in the world and has also launched other useful websites and applications like Gmail, Google+, and Google Drive.
Apple
Apple is another insanely popular international brand, but few people realize that it was started in a California garage by three young men. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne developed the first Apple computer in 1976 in the garage of Steve Jobs' parents' house.
The Apple I was sold as a motherboard to a local store for $500 and shortly thereafter, the team continued on to create the Apple II computer. The founders' products and company became famous when they got a break from their Macintosh line of products, from which they earned millions of dollars. Now, Apple is leading a technological revolution with its various devices, including Mac computers, iPhones, iPods, and iPads.
Microsoft
Every computer user knows the Microsoft brand. It's the remarkable and famous software that was once created in a small Albuquerque garage by Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen. Both of them gave more importance to programming language and software operations and worked in collaboration with IBM. They got their first operating system licensed for $80,000. They kept working hard and some years later they developed their most impressive and exceptional operating system, called Windows. Today, Windows is the most widely used software on the globe. About 80% of computers worldwide are running this operating system.
Amazon
Amazon.com is a well-known online shopping website that was created in 1994 as an online bookstore by Jeff Bezos. He created the website in his garage in Washington, originally investing nearly $40,000 to enable him to order, sell, and deliver books to 48 different countries. He succeeded in selling his first book in July 1995, and since then has built Amazon into the largest online shopping store in world.
Disney
Walt and Roy Disney created their first films in their uncle's garage in 1923. They started their career by creating "Alice Comedies," which were actually a part of the original Alice in Wonderland animation series. Disney faced a lot of hardships in the journey toward success and was only accepted by investors after enduring plenty of struggle and strife. Now, Disney is one of the most popular and highest-earning media houses and franchises in the world, and is the leading name in producing cartoons, children's movies, and animated films.
Hewlett-Packard (HP)
Two friends, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, founded HP in Packard's garage in 1939 with an initial investment of only $538. The product that eventually boosted their career was an audio oscillator (HP200A), which was sold to Walt Disney to improve its sound system for the movie Fantasia. Walt Disney bought eight oscillators and gave HP the biggest break of its life. Today, the Packard's garage in Palo Alto is famous as the birthplace of HP and Silicon Valley. Since its inception, HP has developed into a powerful and active company, developing various computers, laptops, and other computer-centric accessories with advanced technologies.
All of these companies started with little investment capital and small physical space, but hard work and unwavering dedication led them to huge success. With the same type of passion and determination you, too, could be the founder of the next $25B+ enterprise.
LAST UPDATED: JUL 24, 2014
