7 Businesses That Embraced Success through Taking Risks
Realizing that every successful business faced a failure at one point is the key to being a brave entrepreneur. Here are seven noticeable inspirational businesses that took big risks and embraced long-term success.
In 2008, when Twitter initially started expanding its users, its profit margins were far below the expectations of several insiders. Already an American giant, Facebook proposed a deal of $500 million to acquire the thriving social network — this offer was promptly rejected by Twitter’s board of directors. Sometimes, saying no to external pressure and sticking with your product through tough times is the trickiest risk of all. Twitter took it and now modern-day media without Twitter seems incomprehensible.
Throughout the 90s, Google was failing to establish itself. Cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin formed the company and were prepared to give it up because the process of laying down the foundations for such an ambitious project was tedious and tiresome. Larry Page nearly sold the
in 1997 for a mere sum of $1.5 million. Later on, when they persevered and kept on following their business ideals, they came across several smaller companies and service providers, one being a small-time video service website called YouTube. Google bought the small tech company and presently they are the two strongest names in the digital industry.
Dropbox
Imagine saying no to Apple – the most revolutionary company of the 21st century. To Steve Jobs’ dismay Drew Houston, founder of Dropbox, did just that and presently his file sharing company is valued around $9-10 billion.
Intel
Intel is one of the initial businesses that spearheaded the digital revolution. But in 2016, they declared that they’re completely reinventing themselves and abandoning their traditional focus on manufacturing chips and processors. Their attempts to become a primarily cloud and storage company is brave but risky as it completely depends on the ‘Internet of things’.
FedEx
When FedEx was shorn of a business loan they required, to tackle a hefty gas bill and stay in business, founder and CEO Fred Smith gambled $5,000 of his own money in Las Vegas in order to raise the required sum of cash. This is perhaps the most extreme and fundamentalist example of risky entrepreneurship.
Pandora
When Pandora declared bankruptcy in 2001, CEO Tim Westergren requested 50 of his employees, to keep working for the company and defer their salaries for twenty-four months. The employees obliged and the company was finally bailed out by investors. This is an exemplary instance of employee-employer faith.
SpaceX
Elon Musk had to invest a major chunk of the capital he had amassed from the sale of his company PayPal to support his passion project – SpaceX. Initially Elon Musk had severe difficulty in even making payroll for his company but in the due course of time he struck multi-billion dollar deals and contracts. It is known that his business model is driven by big yet calculated risks.
The underlying cause of success behind these seven businesses is the workforce’s confidence in the company and its value in society.
Summary
True entrepreneurs brave risks, and that is often the reason behind the success of many businesses. Companies like Google, Intel, Twitter and Pandora had once faced risks like takeover bids, bankruptcy, and the possible dangers of focusing on reinvention. However, these companies faced the risks boldly and embraced success in due course of time.
Reshali Balasubramaniam
Head of HR, HR Counselor and adviser at https://work.lk/. Do you offer a Service? Signup for an account at work.lk