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1. T
he history of business has been shaped by Herewith are a handful of entrepreneurs. Are these
great entrepreneurs. In fact, entrepreneurs the only ones who deserve to be heralded here? No
and their companies have shaped the way we way. But this is a great start for any list of start-up
live today. While every generation, and every country, legends.
has its own spectacular success stories and role
models, the innovators below have had a profound Richard Branson
effect on our work, play, travel and even grooming. Firmly believing that one should say “yes” to
Resilience, audacity, marketing savvy, a opportunities, Richard Branson (1950–) began a
willingness to take risks, the ability to sell, an school newspaper at age 17, opened a discount
unshakeable belief in their own talents and an mail-order record company with a friend when he
incredible capacity for sheer hard work – these are was 20, established a record shop on London’s
just some of the qualities that entrepreneurs Oxford Street and launched a record label named
possess. But the one quality that unites them all is Virgin. Those early ventures have expanded into a
persistence. Few of the entrepreneurs listed struck major international conglomerate of some 350
gold at the first attempt, many not even at second companies with combined sales of $8 billion.
or third. Undaunted, they carried on. Whether it’s Virgin’s enterprises include hotels, fitness clubs
building teams, scraping together finance or (Virgin Active), books, software production, and film
spotting an opportunity that others have overlooked, and video editing. There are also Virgin Holidays
entrepreneurs live to bring their vision to fruition. and Virgin credit cards. One of the best-known ¡
© 2006 The Author | Journal compilation © 2006 London Business School Business Strategy Review Winter 2006 83

2. ¡ companies is Virgin Atlantic Airlines, a long-haul William Crapo Durant
transatlantic carrier, aiming to provide value-for- The world’s biggest automobile company, General
money flights on transatlantic routes. There are now Motors, was not founded by a mechanic or engineer,
cut-price airlines, such as Virgin Blue in Australia. but by a brilliant salesman, William Crapo Durant
Special Entrepreneurship Issue
In the U.K. there are Virgin Trains. The company (1861–1947). Durant started in business by
claims its pay-as-you-go mobile phone service has rescuing the local waterworks in Flint, Michigan. By
become the fastest business ever to reach $1 billion his thirties he had made a million dollars from
in revenue. selling a revolutionary two-wheeled horse carriage.
The driving force behind Virgin’s growth is In June 1905, sensing the way the industrial winds
undoubtedly Branson’s continual interest in learning were blowing, he threw in his lot with a company
new things. “I keep a notebook in my pocket all the called Buick that manufactured a new kind of
time,” he says, “and I really do listen to what transport – the automobile.
people say . . . . Good ideas come from people In 1908, Durant collected a disparate group of
everywhere, not in the boardroom.” auto companies to form the General Motors
Company. Then followed a series of highs and lows.
Walt Disney Through poor financial management Durant lost
Budding entrepreneurs can take comfort from the control of General Motors in 1910. Undeterred, in
knowledge that even one of the greatest 1911 he started another legendary US auto
Resilience, audacity, marketing savvy, a willingness to take
risks, the ability to sell, an unshakeable belief in their own
talents and an incredible capacity for sheer hard work –
these are just some of the qualities that entrepreneurs
possess.
entrepreneurs of the 20th century did not find company, the Chevrolet Motor Company; incredibly,
immediate success. It was only after a in 1917 he again wrested control of General Motors.
disappointing venture, Laugh-O-Grams, which ran Sadly for Durant, the buzz of trading on the stock
into financial difficulty, that Walt Disney exchange and other risky financial manoeuvring led
(1901–1966) struck gold with his animated to his ejection from General Motors in 1920. As one
characters. Even then the world-famous mouse last roll of the dice he founded Durant Motors in
might never have been born, had it not been for a 1921, but the Wall Street Crash finally put paid to
disastrous business meeting in which Disney lost his business as well as his personal fortune, and he
control of his character, Oswald the Rabbit, to a was forced to file for personal bankruptcy.
competitor. Legend has it that it was on the train In many ways Durant was the archetypal
journey home after the meeting that he had the idea entrepreneur. He loved the deal; he loved selling; he
for a cartoon mouse – called Mortimer. Luckily his loved making things happen. His management style,
wife intervened, renaming the mouse Mickey. however, was autocratic, dictatorial and problematic
Disney went on to become an icon of the 20th when he was trying to move his companies from the
century and an American folk hero. His talent, and start-up stage. Durant’s life exemplified the
ability to bring out the talent in others, propelled tightrope entrepreneurs walk between success and
him from small-time cartoonist to owner of a film failure. It was his maverick streak that made him a
studio and entertainment empire to dispenser of brilliant entrepreneur and led to the creation of the
Disney magic to the world. During a 43-year career largest automobile manufacturer in the world,
in Hollywood, Disney and his studio won 48 General Motors. And it was the same maverick
Academy Awards, seven Emmys and a host of other streak that finally bankrupted him.
awards. Disney pioneered the cartoon as an
entertainment medium with full-length cartoon George Eastman
features like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” George Eastman (1854–1932) was the man who
and “Dumbo” and later produced family film brought photography to the masses. Like many great
favourites such as “Mary Poppins”. One of his most entrepreneurs, Eastman was a combination of
enduring legacies is the project that occupied him inventor and salesman. “You push the button, we do
during final years – the futuristic EPCOT centre. the rest,” was the catchy slogan he came up with to
84 Business Strategy Review Winter 2006 © 2006 The Author | Journal compilation © 2006 London Business School

3. seduce a public who saw photography as a blade packaging, he became world famous and his
cumbersome process, involving large complex image became a symbol of quality. Unfortunately,
machinery and undertaken only by professionals. the Wall Street Crash of 1929 took its toll, robbing
This was true, until Eastman got involved. him of his personal fortune. But, although his later
Special Entrepreneurship Issue
Eastman’s vision was a little more user-friendly, and entrepreneurial efforts came to nothing – attempts
a little more modern – a camera in every house. to extract oil from shale, for example – his legacy
Through a combination of scientific discovery and lives on in the company that brought us Right Guard
masterful marketing, Eastman invented a pocket deodorant and the Fusion razor with five blades.
camera and the film it used and sold it to an
astounded American public. Coming up with the Akio Morita
name Kodak for no other reason than it sounded The celebrated Japanese entrepreneur, Akio Morita
good, Eastman expanded his photographic empire (1921–1999) started with a $500 loan and a small
from one assistant to more than 13,000 employees, telecom company, the Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, which
and from one small room to the 55 acre and 95 he co-founded with partner Masaru Ibuka. He ended
building Kodak Park Works in Rochester, New York. his career as head of the electronics giant Sony. A
He was also an enlightened employer who world away from its best-known products, Morita’s
introduced innovations such as employee ownership first success at the company was with a stove for
schemes into the workplace. cooking rice.
What followed was a stream of innovative
King Camp Gillette electronics products – the cassette tape recorder
The man who shaved a nation, King Camp Gillette and magnetic recording tape (1950), pocket radio
(1855–1932), the US safety razor entrepreneur, (1957), the world’s first all-transistor television
made a fortune from improving a mundane, (1960) and the first home videotape recorder
everyday product. Before Gillette applied his razor- (1968). When he noticed that young people liked
sharp mind to the problem of male grooming, listening to music wherever they went, he inspired
shaving involved cutthroat razors or unsatisfactory the company’s designers to develop a new product,
stick razors that were as liable to injure as to shave, the Walkman, launched in 1980. In a
especially if used on the latest transport technology characteristically idiosyncratic move there was no
– the train. market research to back his hunch. “The public
Taking some advice from another entrepreneur does not know what is possible. We do,” said
who had made a fortune from the cork bottle Morita.
stopper, Gillette developed a simple razor with In 1958 Morita, a proponent of globalisation,
replaceable blades. So confident was he in his idea helped to push through a name change for the
that in 1901 he formed the American Safety Razor company – Sony, taken from the Latin word for
Company and persuaded investors to back him sound, sonus. “We wanted a new name that could
In 1958 Morita, a proponent of globalisation, helped to
push through a name change for the company – Sony,
taken from the Latin word for sound, sonus. “We wanted
a new name that could be recognised anywhere in the
world, one that could be pronounced the same in any
language.”
before he had a commercial product. The investors be recognised anywhere in the world, one that could
were not disappointed. Gillette’s savvy marketing be pronounced the same in any language,’’ said
skills pushed up sales from 51 razors and 168 Morita.
blades in the first year to 250,000 razor sets and Having built Sony into a multibillion-dollar
100,000 blade packages by 1905. company, Morita, now a billionaire himself, resigned
Much of Gillette’s success was down to pure force as president in 1993. His reason: to spend more
of character. He was one of the first businessmen to time indulging in pastimes such as scuba diving,
exploit the cult of personality and the corporate skiing and tennis, all of which he started when over
brand. By printing his reassuring face on the razor the age of 50. “I consider him one of the people ¡
© 2006 The Author | Journal compilation © 2006 London Business School Business Strategy Review Winter 2006 85

4. ¡ who brought Japan back from where it was in the tech start-up in a garage, Hewlett-Packard has
1940s and created a new industrial concept,” grown from a two-man partnership selling
Henry Kissinger said of Morita. oscilloscopes into a $90 billion company selling a
range of products from laser printers to PCs.
Special Entrepreneurship Issue
Pierre Omidyar A Stanford University electrical engineering
French born Pierre Omidyar (1967–) is the founder graduate, Packard worked for General Electric
of one of the Internet’s most enduring dot-com before forming a partnership with fellow Stanford
businesses, eBay. As a computer science graduate, alumnus Hewlett. Packard turned out to be a
Omidyar is well equipped to understand the natural manager who was ahead of his time. He
technology. Crucially he also possesses a clear discarded the traditional hierarchical top-down
understanding of the power of the Internet to management structure in favour of a flatter
change the nature of markets, allowing the structure with an emphasis on teams and the
equivalent of the village market – where producers sharing of information and ideas. It may be common
and consumers deal directly with each other – to practice in corporations today, but when Packard
exist on a global scale. instituted it at Hewlett-Packard it was revolutionary.
He used that insight to create the online
equivalent of Aladdin’s cave, a business where Arthur Rock
valuable first-edition books, jewellery, toys and Without the venture capital industry there would be
grand-master oil paintings jostle side by side for the no Internet, e-business, information revolution or
collector’s attention. eBay started life as a humble new economy, as we understand them today. And
homepage in September 1995; in fact, the name there might be no venture capital industry were it
eBay stands for “electronic Bay Area”, a testimony not for Arthur Rock.
to eBay’s parochial origin. In September 1998 the Son of a shopkeeper, the astute Rock, a Harvard
company had its IPO with the share price reaching Business School graduate, provided early-stage
$53.50 on the opening day. Since then eBay’s finance for some of the cornerstone companies of
market cap has topped $56.4 billion. the technological revolution. His lucky break was to
Unusually for an entrepreneur, Omidyar be in the office of Wall Street investment banking
recognised the need to bring in professional firm Hayden Stone when a letter arrived from a
management at an early stage, appointing Meg young research scientist looking to develop a new
Whitman as CEO in 1997. Today Omidyar takes a invention – the silicon transistor. Rock thought it
back seat, leaving the day-to-day management of was worth investigating and flew out to the West
eBay started life as a humble homepage in September
1995; in fact, the name eBay stands for “electronic Bay
Area”, a testimony to eBay’s parochial origin. In
September 1998 the company had its IPO with the share
price reaching $53.50 on the opening day. Since then
eBay’s market cap has topped $56.4 billion.
the company to Whitman. He and his wife Pam Coast. He recommended backing the young
founded the Omidyar Network in 2004 to foster scientist, Eugene Kleiner, and Fairchild
self-empowerment across economic, political and Semiconductors was born – the technological gene
social realms. pool from which much of the new economy evolved.
Rock founded his own venture capital company
David Packard on the West Coast and financed Bob Noyce and
It might easily have been Packard-Hewlett Gordon Moore when they left Fairchild to found
emblazoned on computer equipment around the Intel. Then, after a speculative trip to the San Jose
world. It would have been if Dave Packard Homebrew Computer show, he backed two young
(1912–1997) had won the coin toss with partner computer enthusiasts who were demonstrating a
William Hewlett to decide which name would come mock-up computer. Their names were Steve Jobs
first in their partnership. It was 1939, and one of and Steve Wozniak – and their company was Apple
the few wrong calls Packard ever made. The original Computing.
86 Business Strategy Review Winter 2006 © 2006 The Author | Journal compilation © 2006 London Business School

5. Rock has been asked countless times the secret Robert Edward Turner III
of spotting the entrepreneurial talent of the future. After a difficult beginning to his career following his
Is it luck – or a good understanding of technology? father’s suicide, Ted Turner (1938–) showed
Neither, he says. According to Rock it is about resilience and determination as he went on to
Special Entrepreneurship Issue
listening to others, having a diverse range of interests improve his father’s business and help create the
(not just technology), and above all possessing the largest entertainment and media company in the
ability to read and understand people. These qualities world, AOL Time Warner. Following his appointment
have made Rock the entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. as president and chief operating officer of Turner
Advertising Company in 1963, Turner blazed a trail
David Sarnoff of acquisitions, mergers and channel launches
It is no exaggeration to say that David Sarnoff across the corporate landscape of America. A UHF
(1891–1970) is largely responsible for the modern station, professional sports teams including the
mass-market entertainment industry. Born in Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Braves, Headline News,
Uzlian, Russia, Sarnoff immigrated to the US as a TNT, Sports South, The Cartoon Network, Turner
boy in 1900. By 1930, he was president of the Classic Movies, New Line Cinema, and many more
Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the company enterprises were brought under Turner’s control as
that popularised radio as a form of entertainment he built his company, Turner Broadcasting System,
broadcasting to homes across America. into a media giant.
Sarnoff was no technological whiz-kid, but like all Then in 1980, Turner launched CNN (Cable News
great entrepreneurs he recognised the potential of new Network), the first 24-hour news channel. The
technology and understood his market. Much of his reviews were scathing. A 24/7 all-news network
success was due to the genius of inventor Edwin H. would never work, critics said. But Turner proved
Armstrong, who produced a series of groundbreaking them wrong. “I am the right man in the right place
innovations in radio technology. Sarnoff’s genius at the right time,” he said. “Not me alone, but all
was securing a deal with Armstrong that gave RCA the people who think the world can be brought
first rights to any of Armstrong’s inventions. together by telecommunications.” CNN was a huge
Furthermore, Sarnoff, realising the importance of success, revolutionising the news industry. It
intellectual property rights, tied up all the patents. cemented Turner’s place in the pantheon of
The media pioneer went on to introduce television entrepreneurs.
to the US public in 1939. And in a masterstroke, Turner has used much of his wealth in the public
he opened up the patents for television technology, interest, becoming one of the US’s most influential
ensuring that there would be a market for his philanthropists. Most of his philanthropic activity is
company’s programmes. Secure in the knowledge directed through the Turner Foundation, the Nuclear
that he, as much as Disney, had changed the world Threat Initiative, and the United Nations
of entertainment, Sarnoff handed control of RCA to Foundation, which he supported in 1997 with a
his son Robert in 1965. donation of $1 billion over 10 years. I
Steve Coomber (steve.coomber@suntopmedia.com) writes for The Times, CEO, Finance Director Europe
and a number of other publications. He is co-author of several books, including Architects of the
Business Revolution.
London Business School
Regent’s Park
London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)20 7000 7000
Fax +44 (0)20 7000 7001
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© 2006 The Author | Journal compilation © 2006 London Business School Business Strategy Review Winter 2006 87