Backstage histories of some of today’s biggest tech companies!
There are countless examples of little great ideas that, throughout history, have revolutionized forever the life of each and every one of us.
You do not remember any of them?
The wheel, the lamp, the combustion engine, the telephone, or penicillin are just a few examples, but the list is almost endless!
In the last decades, however, and especially after the invention of the computer and the world wide web, we are confronted daily with an endless avalanche of information that has completely altered the rhythm of the dissemination of new ideas and the speed with which they impact our day to day life!
The rhythm and the pace of development of new startups is, by these days, truly frantic! And it’s absolutely fantastic how sometimes such simple ideas have such an impact on our lives and that they turn out to be the way that revolutionizes how we all solve the same problem!
Let’s take a few examples.
In 2007, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky were struggling to pay the rent for the apartment they shared. Luckily, a conference was to be held in San Francisco, California, and the hotels were crowded. And thus, they had their million dollar idea: What if we could rent out our living room for a few nights for about 3 people and make some money real fast? Brilliant, right? Not only did they quickly solve their rent money problem, but they also managed to revolutionize the way the whole world goes on vacation! The concept of Airbnb was created!
In the same year, 2007, another idea was about to change the way we shared our files. Have you ever thought about how you used to synchronize files between your various devices, home computer, office computer, smartphone, or tablet? Or about how many different versions you had for the same document without knowing which one was had the most recent data? Or how often you faced yourself with the difficulty of sending a single 25Mb file to a friend? Well … Drew Houston came across these same issues himself and had a genius idea! He created DropBox and provided us with a great solution for all those dramas!
In 2008, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp were having trouble in getting a taxi at night in Paris. And, simple as that, they had a really millionaire idea! Would it not be easier to tap on a button on your smartphone and get instant reply for transportation? Yeap, much simpler and more practical! And, like that, at a glance, Uber revolutionized the idea of ’calling a taxi’ around the world!
Fast forward a few years. It was in 2011, and a relative of Lucas Lambertini was needing to trim a tree in the yard that was dangerously close to a power line cord. After wasting time with several fruitless phone calls to ads in the yellow pages and having hired a professional who, instead of trimming the tree, arranged to also trim the electric cable itself, the million dollar idea came to Lucas head: What if you could just ask for professional help, one single time in one central place, for any given service you needed and several accredited professionals sent you their budgets and prices for the job? Practical and super useful, is it not? After joining forces with Toni Paignant and Mael Leclair, the concept of StarOfService was created!
These are just a few examples, of course. There are many more millionaire ideas that revolutionize the lives of us all, every single day!
Sometimes the simplicity and obviousness of the ideas is such that it makes you wonder: ‘Why the hell did I not think of this before?’ Right?
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