Jill Blashack Strahan - Tastefully Simple

Blashack Strahan started her gourmet food company with $6,000 in savings, a backyard shed for storage, and a pool table as a packing station.

In her own words: “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream.  Recommit and get to work."

She had the idea to sell at taste-testing parties, and sales began slowly picking up. In 12 years, Tastefully Simple has grown into a $120 million dollar business.
(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow

Seth Goldman

Seth Goldman
Honest Tea

Goldman started out brewing the tea in his kitchen and storing it in thermoses. After only five weeks spent perfecting the brewing process, he brought samples of and a mock-up label to a meeting with the company that is now Whole Foods Market, hoping that they would place a small order. They asked for 15,000 bottles. Honest Tea is now the top-selling bottled organic tea in the U.S.

(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow

David Hauser and Siamak Taghaddos

David Hauser and Siamak Taghaddos
Got VMail/Grasshopper

Hauser and Taghaddos came up with a great idea for an inexpensive VoIP phone system for small businesses. They got their startup money the hard way, by asking friends and family to help fund their business.

The idea for GotVMail was to give smaller companies a way to sound as professional as larger, established firms, allowing small business to set up voice-mail boxes that can route calls to cell phones and get messages via e-mailed MP3 files. GotVMail, now Grasshopper, generates about $5 million in revenue per year.

Source: (http://www.businesspundit.com)

Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor

Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor

Juicy Couture

Skiast-Levy and Nash-Taylor didn’t want to start a business in debt. Instead, they started their clothing empire with $200 of their own money, and applied for a revolving line of credit.  Neither took a salary for two years while they designed and produced the now-ubiquitous terry and velour tracksuits that would make them famous. Juicy Couture Clothing is now sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman-Marcus, and Bloomingdales.

(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow

Jake Neuberg and Ramit Varma

Jake Neuberg and Ramit Varma
Revolution Prep

Neuberg and Varma, who both had experience as tutors, met in business school and launched their test prep company in 2002, financing themselves with personal credit cards. After nearly going broke the first year, the company started becoming profitable. By 2004, Revolution Prep had more than $1 million in revenues, and by 2007, their first-quarter sales topped $3 million.

(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow

Mena and Ben Trott

Mena and Ben Trott
Six Apart

Husband-and-wife team Mena and Ben Trott developed Movable Type as a tool for Mena’s personal blog posts. When they offered it online, there were over 200 downloads within the first hour. From their apartment, the Trotts (who were also high school sweethearts) launched software company SixApart, now a multi-national provider of blogging tools with more than 10 million estimated users.

(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow

Ryan Hoak, Michael Benbow, and Todd Essman

Ryan Hoak, Michael Benbow, and Todd Essman
RealGM.com

Hoak and Benbow “met” on an internet message board and came up with the idea for a site that lets fans analyze hypothetical NBA trades. Based in Illinois and Australia, respectively, the two collaborated on Trade Checker, later enlisting the help of Essman.

Not only was the idea a hit among NBA fans, it also attracted the attention of real NBA general managers.  In addition to licensing RealGM software to teams for approximately $30,000 a year, RealGM.com has become one of the world's most popular sports websites, attracting over 20 million page views per month.

(Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/) Merrin Muxlow