- 7/5/2025
They were called delusional, impractical, and downright foolish... but history had different plans! Join us as we count down the visionary companies that defied skepticism and proved all their critics wrong. From rejected pitches to billion-dollar acquisitions, these business gambles paid off in spectacular fashion!
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00:00I think that there's a lot of things changing at Apple right now.
00:02Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the companies that believed in their business even when no one else did.
00:09We're unveiling the Xbox.
00:12Number 10, Airbnb.
00:14Launched in 2008, Air Bed and Breakfast began with a literal air mattress on the floor of founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia's San Francisco apartment.
00:22I discovered something. One weekend I couldn't pay rent.
00:24I decided to let people in my house, only to make money for the most part. I thought it'd be fun.
00:28While homestays were already an established idea offered by the likes of Verbo and HomeAway, Airbnb stood out because of its home-sharing aspect.
00:35Going on vacation to stay with a stranger in their home?
00:38It sounded insane to investors who often refused to even meet with Chesky and Gebbia.
00:42You can take an idea that people might think is a little crazy, and you can find a way in.
00:47The two founders ended up selling cereal to raise the funds themselves, until people noticed their idea catching on.
00:53Today, Airbnb is a giant in the travel industry, rivaling traditional hotels.
00:57Clearly, this wasn't such a crazy idea.
01:04Number 9, Ring.
01:06In 2013, Jamie Siminoff presented his company, DoorBot, on Shark Tank, hoping to cut an investment deal.
01:11Sharks, wouldn't it have been nice to know who was behind the door before you let me in?
01:15Only one shark, Kevin O'Leary, made Siminoff an offer.
01:18Sticking to his guns and believing in the value of his business, Siminoff turned his modest offer down.
01:22We have a vision, I think, to build a big company out of this.
01:26And I can't give someone 10% of all of our sales because it'll bleed us of cash while we really need it the most.
01:32I'm basically providing you factoring capital. You need my $700,000 for inventory.
01:36But respectfully, I can raise that money through venture debt or line of credit or something else.
01:41DoorBot was later rebranded as Ring, the home security and smart doorbell manufacturer that has taken off everywhere.
01:47Part of Ring's success is owed to the organic marketing produced by viral videos taken on Ring cameras.
01:51Hey there.
01:54I see you right there, aren't you?
01:57In 2018, Amazon bought Ring for nearly $1 billion, far more than Siminoff originally valued the company at on Shark Tank.
02:05Whatever happened to peeking through the window and saying, go away?
02:08Number 8. FedEx
02:09While a student at Yale, Fred Smith, wrote a paper about how to optimize shipping methods to deliver goods faster.
02:15Business is business. And as we all know, in order to get something done, you've got to do something.
02:17In order to do something, we've got to get to work. So let's get to work. Thank you for taking the meeting.
02:20Undeterred by the C he received on his paper, Smith turned his idea into a business in the 1970s with Federal Express.
02:26However, the 1973 oil crisis quickly put FedEx into massive amounts of debt.
02:30We run out of money and we didn't have all of the regulatory requirements we needed.
02:41With his last $5,000, Smith decided to take another risk. He went to Vegas and played a little blackjack.
02:46His literal gamble paid off, earning him $27,000 that helped keep the company from going under.
02:51Today, FedEx has grown into a multinational shipping conglomerate known around the world.
02:58Number 7. Play-Doh
03:00This colorful, kid-friendly putty was originally manufactured for a very different purpose.
03:04Kids love to squish it and squash it and roll it!
03:09In 1912, soap maker Cut-Off Products developed a substance that could clean soot from wallpaper.
03:14After World War II, when oil, gas, and electricity began replacing coal in the home,
03:18the market for soot cleaner quickly shrank.
03:20So as gas and electric heating came in, there was no longer a need for the cleaning goo.
03:27Joseph McVicker was tasked with saving Cut-Off Products from bankruptcy
03:30when his sister-in-law, a nursery school teacher, suggested he market it as a toy.
03:35Cut-Off Products began manufacturing the putty in bright, kid-approved colors
03:38and marketing to schools under the name Play-Doh.
03:40Though it very nearly became obsolete, Play-Doh has endured for decades as a childhood favorite toy.
03:46Open a can of imagination with Play-Doh!
03:48Number 6. Crocs
03:49When these shoes first launched, most consumers agreed that the foam clogs weren't exactly the height of fashion.
03:54Still, despite their outward appearance, Crocs were comfortable and practical,
03:57especially for groups like gardeners, healthcare professionals, and cooks.
04:00Labeled as a fad, Crocs sales surged more than 225% last year.
04:05After the initial excitement surrounding the controversial shoe, sales began to fall.
04:10To save the company, CEO Andrew Reese decided he would take on the Herculean task of making Crocs
04:15not just practical, but genuinely cool and trendy as well.
04:18Across the globe, that younger consumer wants to be able to turn a generic purchase
04:22into a personal purchase and tell a story.
04:24Collaborations with designers, celebrity endorsements, and social media marketing have all transformed Crocs
04:29and it was a surprisingly fashion-forward brand.
04:32Fashion's all about making a statement.
04:33And a pair of Crocs full of gibbets certainly has something to say.
04:37In 2024, the company said they brought in $271 million worth of sales from these alone.
04:42Number 5. Reddit
04:43Founded by two college roommates in 2005, Reddit looked like a ghost town upon its initial launch.
04:49You'll also notice I had a t-shirt with a mascot that I designed long before we actually built a website.
04:54The challenging part of making a website based around user-generated content and discussion
04:58is that you actually need some users.
05:00So Steve Huffman and Alex Ohanian followed the old adage.
05:03Fake it till you make it.
05:05They created hundreds of fake accounts to post content and leave comments, being careful
05:08to establish the specific kind of tone and discourse they hoped to see on Reddit.
05:12Eventually, real users started creating accounts and contributed to the conversations.
05:17And the fake accounts were no longer needed.
05:18Word of mouth has always been the most powerful form of advertising and now Reddit is where that conversation happens.
05:24Today, Reddit is the ninth most visited website in the world, with subreddits to appeal to every possible niche on the internet.
05:30There are Redditors on the R Sharknado subreddit sharing photos and updates and so that's how we know it's on its way.
05:36Number 4. Microsoft
05:37In 2001, Microsoft was already long established as a major player in the tech industry, but they wanted to try something new.
05:43You may have been wondering what this draped device was here.
05:46Video game console companies like Sony and Nintendo were developing their products into broader home entertainment systems that rivaled a personal computer.
05:54Microsoft decided to take on these video game giants by launching its own console, the Xbox.
05:58The Xbox is everything The Rock is.
06:00Cutting edge, powerful, exhilarating.
06:03And like The Rock, it will be the most electrifying thing coming out this year.
06:08Though initial sales weren't very impressive, Microsoft stood by its Xbox line and continued developing it.
06:13Today, Xbox and PlayStation compete directly to produce the most popular, high-performance gaming systems on the market.
06:20It is truly the future of video games and I'm very excited to simply be a part of it if you smell what The Rock is cooking.
06:28Number 3. Twitter
06:29The initial idea for Twitter was introduced by Jack Dorsey in 2006.
06:33By 2007, Twitter users were already posting a collective 60,000 tweets per day.
06:38Three weeks ago, I had 90 followers and today I have more than 2,000 followers.
06:43The company grew rapidly with much critical acclaim.
06:45By 2009, Twitter was ranked the third most popular social networking site.
06:49During Twitter's early growth, Facebook took notice.
06:52Mark Zuckerberg offered to buy the company for $500 million in 2008.
06:56In a shocking move, Twitter turned the generous offer down.
06:58Just becoming very popular and proving that Twitter can be a reliable and interesting and useful tool around the world,
07:05that's only kind of half the job.
07:07The other half of the job is, can we build a business on this?
07:10It continued to grow and became a direct competitor to Facebook.
07:13In 2023, Twitter famously sold to Elon Musk for a whopping $44 billion, 88 times Zuckerberg's original offer.
07:21In a message to advertisers posted on Twitter, Musk said he doesn't want the platform to become what he calls
07:27a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.
07:32Number 2. Netflix
07:33Inspired by Amazon's online bookseller model, the founders of Netflix saw DVDs as the next big thing in internet retail.
07:40There's a better way to rent movies.
07:41As many as you want for just $20 a month and no late fees.
07:44After its initial launch, both Amazon and Blockbuster offered to buy the company for millions of dollars,
07:50but both offers were turned down.
07:51As the DVD grew in popularity, so did Netflix, but they had their eyes on another prize.
07:56As early as 2005, Netflix was working towards a streaming service.
07:59With Netflix, you could watch unlimited television shows and movies instantly through gaming consoles and other devices.
08:05While DVD players were still a hot Christmas item, Netflix continued to expand its streaming capabilities.
08:10This innovative attitude kept it ahead of the game in both DVD rentals and streaming,
08:14allowing Netflix to radically shift the market multiple times since its initial founding.
08:18What we want to do is offer a variety.
08:20You know, you don't want to watch the same thing every night as much as you like it.
08:23You want to try different things.
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08:40Number 1. Apple
08:42After Apple's initial success in the world of personal computers in the 70s and 80s, the company hit a rough patch.
08:47Once a mighty giant in the industry, now Apple computers are given little shelf space in most stores.
08:54Steve Jobs had stepped down as CEO, new Apple products weren't selling, and the company faced fierce competition from Microsoft and IBM.
09:01It seemed like this California tech company's short run was over.
09:04In 1997, Jobs returned to take up the reins once again.
09:07I think that we're going to get to a new trend, but that new trend will not become evident for another quarter or so.
09:14He decided to shift the business model, focusing on innovation and appealing to a wider audience.
09:18He introduced the iMac and the iPod, which became wildly popular with consumers.
09:22Apple was rapidly returning to the top, but the iPhone clinched the deal.
09:26An iPod, a phone, are you getting it?
09:33The now ubiquitous product changed the smartphone industry and further cemented Steve Jobs and Apple's legacy.
09:40Which company do you think will be the next craziest success story?
09:42Let us know in the comments.
09:44And this is the home screen of iPhone right here.
09:47We'll see you next time.
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