Friday Foursight from The Daily Dap (Ship at Sea, Entrepreneurship, Stories)

Friday Foursight includes four sections - read them all or jump to your favorite:

Growth Notes

Quotes + More Quotes

A Few Favorite Links

Question For You

Growth Notes

I met someone at a community workout event this past Saturday (2/24). She quickly became a friend of mine. She said the following in explaining the earlier years of building her business:

“We are building a ship at sea … so it requires faith.”

Building a ship at sea.

Visualize that in your mind for a moment.

Building a ship is hard enough.

Building it at sea is near to impossible.

That is what building a business is like — especially a physical, logistics-centered business, in 2024, like mine or like my friend above.

All of this reminds me of a quote by the former CEO of IBM, Andy Grove: “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis, good companies survive them, great companies are improved by them.”

There are cycles to everything.

Traversing through them creates the stories we read of today.

On that note, here are 12+ well-known companies within the past 125 years that were started during the time of depressions and recessions:

General Electric

Year Launched: 18922023 Revenue: $68 Billion

“Thomas Edison and company launched General Electric right as the nation was heading into the Panic of 1893, a period of 16 months where business activity dropped nearly 40% across the nation.” 1

General Motors

Year Launched: 19082023 Revenue: $171.8 Billion

“General Motors Founder William Durant made his transition into the newly-created automobile industry in 1904 with his purchase of the Buick Motor Company.” In 1908, there was 30% business declines experienced during the 13-month Panic of 1907. Durant doubled up and “decided to launch GM as a holding company to acquire even more automobile manufacturers.” 2

IBM

Year Launched: 19112023 Revenue: $61.9 Billion

IBM started by selling commercial and business machines in the middle of a two-year panic.

Disney

Year Launched: 19292023 Revenue: $88.898 Billion

1929. Walt Disney Productions incorporates. The 4-year Great Depression had just started.

At the tail end of the Great Depression, Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, built the business to a point of being able to launch their first full-length animated feature. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Scotch Tape

Year Launched: 19302023 Revenue: Total 3M revenue was $32.68 Billion. Scotch contributed a portion of the overall pie.

In a time period when thrift was popular, the use of scotch tape became prevalent for Americans. This gave way to making the product immeasurably useful in the lives of American people.

HP

Year Launched: 19392023 Revenue: $54 Billion

Also, during the Great Depression, Stanford graduates William Hewlett and David Packard decided to create an electronics company called Hewlett-Packard. The business was incorporated in January 1, 1939.

HP is a giant to this day.

Hyatt

Year Launched: 19572019 Revenue: $5.0 Billion

“Two months into the Recession of 1958, entrepreneur Jay Pritzker purchased the Hyatt House motel near Los Angeles International Airport. Even with business activity and travel slowing during the tough economic times, Pritzker pushed on, opening two additional hotels before the end of the decade. Eventually, this collection would grow to nearly 900 properties, and annual revenues exceeding $5 billion dollars! 3

Trader Joe’s

Year Launched: 19582023 Revenue (Estimated): $13.3 Billion

Trader Joe’s came about during the Recession of 1958 under the name Pronto Markets. The founder, Joe Coulombe, launched the concept to provide unique international food offerings to the public.

He scaled it and then sold it to German billionaire, Theo Albrecht, in 1979.

FedEx

Year Launched: 19712023 Revenue: $90.15 Billion

Fred Smith is known for his incredible startup story.

His concept, FedEx, actually began as part of a school project.

He started the business around the time of the 1969–1970 Recession.

Fred traversed through the toughest of times and became the major delivery logistics player that they are today.

Salesforce

Year Launched: 1992023 Revenue: $8.3 Billion

Salesforce started in 1999 - around the time of the dot-com bubble burst. They are now the known powerhouse in tech.

Google

Year Launched: 19982023 Revenue: $305.63 Billion

Google also started in 1998 - around the time of the dot-com bubble burst. Do I need to say more on them?

Facebook

Year Launched: 20042023 Revenue: $134 Billion

2004 was the birth year of Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg and his team outlasted the rest and thrived through the 2000s and 2008.

Quotes + More Quotes

“Amateurs have a goal. Professionals have a system.” — Going Pro

“Bad companies are destroyed by crisis, good companies survive them, great companies are improved by them.” — Andy Grove - former CEO of IBM

“Customers are like thieves. You never know when they are coming or leaving.”  — Unknown

A Few Favorite Links

• Never Forget Why You Started

• Advanced Marketing Playbooks

Question For You

What's the most inspiring thing you've read, listened to, or seen lately?

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