Self Made Entrepreneurs: 10 Who Built Billion-Dollar Empires from Nothing
Over 80% of today’s richest entrepreneurs started from humble beginnings. These self made entrepreneurs prove that where you start
Over 80% of today’s richest entrepreneurs started from humble beginnings. These self made entrepreneurs prove that where you start doesn’t determine where you finish. From food stamps to billion-dollar exits, from sleeping in cars to corporate boardrooms, their stories demolish the myth that you need money to make money.
The common thread among self made entrepreneurs isn’t luck or connections. It’s an unshakeable belief that problems can become profits, setbacks can become comebacks, and small ideas can become global empires.
1. Jan Koum: From Food Stamps to $19 Billion
Jan Koum’s story reads like fiction. Born in Ukraine, he moved to the US at 16 with his mother. They survived on food stamps while Koum taught himself programming by reading discarded computer manuals.
After dropping out of San Jose State, Koum worked at Yahoo for nine years. In 2009, he bought an iPhone and realized messaging could be revolutionized. Working from a former welfare office where he’d once collected aid, Koum co-founded WhatsApp.
The app started simple: text without fees. By 2014, WhatsApp had 600 million users. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg offered $19 billion for the company. Koum signed the deal on the door of that same welfare office where his journey began.
Today, Koum is worth over $10 billion. His success proves that self made entrepreneurs can emerge from the most challenging circumstances.
2. Sara Blakely: $5,000 to Billion-Dollar Spanx Empire
Sara Blakely cut the feet off her pantyhose to create smoother lines under white pants. That moment of frustration became a billion-dollar idea.
With $5,000 in savings from selling fax machines door-to-door, Blakely researched the hosiery industry. She had no business experience, no connections, and no investors. What she had was relentless determination.
Blakely cold-called manufacturers for two years before finding one willing to produce her design. She personally visited department stores, demonstrating the product in bathroom stalls to convince buyers.
Spanx launched in 2000. When Oprah Winfrey named it a “Favorite Thing” in 2001, sales exploded. By 2012, Blakely became the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire. Her company now generates hundreds of millions in annual revenue.
3. Richard Branson: From £300 to £3.6 Billion Virgin Empire
Richard Branson struggled with dyslexia and dropped out of school at 16. His headmaster told him he’d either “end up in prison or become a millionaire.”
In 1970, Branson started Student magazine with £300. The youth publication struggled until he pivoted to mail-order records, capitalizing on postal strikes affecting traditional record stores.
Virgin Records grew from that mail-order business. Branson signed controversial artists others wouldn’t touch, including the Sex Pistols. The risk paid off massively.
From records, Branson expanded into airlines, mobile phones, space travel, and over 400 businesses under the Virgin brand. His willingness to enter new industries and challenge established players built a £3.6 billion empire.
Self made entrepreneurs like Branson prove that formal education isn’t required for extraordinary success.
4. John Paul DeJoria: From Homeless to $3.1 Billion Hair Care Fortune
John Paul DeJoria was homeless twice before age 25. Born to immigrant parents in LA, he lived in foster care and started working at age nine, selling Christmas cards door-to-door.
Before finding success, DeJoria worked as a janitor, encyclopedia salesman, and door-to-door Christmas card seller. He was fired from his first job in hair care at Redken Laboratories.
In 1980, living in his car, DeJoria partnered with hairdresser Paul Mitchell to start John Paul Mitchell Systems with just $700. They mixed hair products in a garage and sold them from the trunk of DeJoria’s car.
The company now generates over $900 million annually. DeJoria also co-founded Patrón Spirits, building it into a premium tequila brand worth billions. His net worth exceeds $3.1 billion.
5. Howard Schultz: From Housing Projects to Starbucks Global Empire
Howard Schultz grew up in the housing projects of Brooklyn. His father worked as a truck driver, diaper service worker, and cab driver, often struggling to support the family.
After college, Schultz worked at Xerox before joining a small Seattle coffee company called Starbucks as head of marketing. During a trip to Italy, he became fascinated with espresso bars and their social atmosphere.
Schultz wanted to bring that Italian coffee culture to America, but Starbucks’ founders weren’t interested. He left to start his own company, Il Giornale, in 1985. Two years later, when Starbucks went up for sale, Schultz bought it for $3.8 million.
He transformed Starbucks from a small coffee bean retailer into a global coffeehouse chain with over 30,000 locations. The company’s market value exceeds $100 billion. Schultz proved that self made entrepreneurs can scale local concepts into worldwide phenomena.
6. Do Won Chang: From Three Jobs to Forever 21 Fashion Empire
Do Won Chang immigrated to America from Korea in 1981 with his wife Jin Sook. Despite having college degrees, language barriers forced them into low-paying jobs.
Chang worked three jobs simultaneously: janitor, gas station attendant, and coffee shop employee. The couple lived in a cramped apartment, saving every penny while learning American business practices.
In 1984, they opened their first clothing store with $11,000 in savings. Fashion 21, later renamed Forever 21, started as a 900-square-foot shop targeting young women with trendy, affordable fashion.
The couple’s attention to fast fashion and rapid inventory turnover revolutionized retail. Forever 21 grew into an international empire with 480 stores and $3 billion in annual sales.
7. Larry Ellison: From Adoptee to Oracle Technology Titan
Larry Ellison was given up for adoption as an infant and raised by his aunt and uncle in Chicago. His adoptive father constantly told him he’d never amount to anything.
Ellison dropped out of the University of Chicago twice and moved to California with little money. He worked odd programming jobs while teaching himself advanced database concepts.
In 1977, Ellison co-founded Software Development Laboratories (later Oracle) with $2,000 in startup capital. He based the company on a research paper about relational database systems, seeing commercial potential others missed.
Oracle became the world’s second-largest software company. Ellison’s net worth peaked at over $100 billion, making him one of the richest people alive. His success shows how self made entrepreneurs can transform academic concepts into massive businesses.
8. Ralph Lauren: From Tie Salesman to Fashion Icon
Ralph Lauren grew up in the Bronx and dropped out of college to join the Army. After his service, he worked as a clerk at Brooks Brothers, selling men’s clothing.
Lauren noticed men wanted more colorful, stylish ties than the conservative options available. In 1967, he convinced a manufacturer to produce wider, brighter ties under his Polo label.
Starting from a single desk drawer in the Empire State Building, Lauren sold $500,000 worth of ties in his first year. He expanded into complete menswear, then women’s fashion, home goods, and fragrances.
Ralph Lauren Corporation is now a global lifestyle brand worth over $6 billion. Lauren’s personal wealth exceeds $7 billion. He proved that self made entrepreneurs can build empires by identifying underserved market segments.
9. Oprah Winfrey: From Poverty to Media Mogul
Oprah Winfrey was born into extreme poverty in rural Mississippi. She wore dresses made from potato sacks and faced abuse throughout her childhood. At 14, she gave birth to a son who died in infancy.
Despite these challenges, Winfrey excelled in school and won a scholarship to Tennessee State University. She started in radio, then moved to television news in Baltimore, where she was told she was “unfit for television.”
Instead of giving up, Winfrey moved to Chicago to host a morning talk show. Her authentic, empathetic style revolutionized daytime television. The Oprah Winfrey Show ran for 25 years, making her the first African American female billionaire.
Winfrey built a media empire including magazines, a cable network (OWN), and production companies. Her net worth exceeds $2.8 billion, proving that self made entrepreneurs can overcome any obstacle.
10. Ingvar Kamprad: From Selling Matches to IKEA Furniture Giant
Ingvar Kamprad started his first business at age five, selling matches to neighbors near his family farm in rural Sweden. By age 10, he was selling fish, Christmas decorations, and pencils.
At 17, Kamprad founded IKEA with money his father gave him for good grades. The name combined his initials (IK) with his farm (Elmtaryd) and village (Agunnaryd).
Kamprad initially sold small household items by mail order. When local furniture stores boycotted his low prices, he opened his own showroom. His flat-pack furniture concept revolutionized the industry by reducing shipping costs and allowing customer assembly.
IKEA became the world’s largest furniture retailer with over 400 stores globally. Kamprad’s net worth peaked at $58.7 billion before his death in 2018, making him one of the richest self made entrepreneurs in history.
The Common Traits of Self Made Entrepreneurs
These success stories reveal consistent patterns among self made entrepreneurs:
They solve real problems. Every billionaire on this list identified a genuine market need and created a solution people were willing to pay for.
They embrace rejection. From Oprah being told she was “unfit for television” to DeJoria being fired from his first hair care job, these entrepreneurs used rejection as motivation.
They start before they’re ready. None waited for perfect conditions or complete knowledge. They started with what they had and learned through action.
They reinvest obsessively. Rather than spending early profits, they reinvested everything back into growth, scaling their operations systematically.
They persist through failure. Each entrepreneur faced multiple setbacks, business failures, and personal crises. What separated them was their refusal to quit permanently.
The Reality About Starting with Nothing
The myth that you need money to make money crumbles under scrutiny. These self made entrepreneurs started with savings under $1,000, unemployment benefits, or borrowed capital. What they possessed was infinitely more valuable: the ability to see opportunities others missed and the determination to pursue them relentlessly.
Their stories prove that in today’s economy, ideas and execution matter more than inherited wealth or prestigious connections. Anyone with persistence, creativity, and willingness to solve problems can join the ranks of self made entrepreneurs.
The question isn’t whether you have enough resources to start. It’s whether you have enough determination to continue when those resources run out.
Sources
- 10 Billionaire Entrepreneurs who Started with Nothing – Incorpuk
- 10 Most Successful Entrepreneurs that Started with Nothing – University of the People
- 17 Billionaires Who Started Out Dirt Poor – Inc.com
- 10 Successful Entrepreneurs Who Started With Nothing – Hidayat Rizvi
- 10 Successful Entrepreneurs Who Began from Scratch – Plerdy
- Successful Entrepreneurs From Poor to Rich – Stealth Agents
- Inspirational Rags To Riches Stories From Self-Made People – QuidMarket
