Sara Blakely
Spanx · Fashion & retail · United States
Biography
Sold fax machines door to door before inventing Spanx in 2000. She wrote her own patent and pitched department stores herself, growing the company without outside investors for years.
Starting point: Started Spanx with about $5,000 of personal savings.
The lesson
Paraphrased summarySummary: start small with your own savings, solve a problem you personally have, and sell it yourself.
How it helps you
You do not need investors to start. A real problem plus direct selling can carry a business through its first stage.
Practical steps
- Write down a problem you face every week.
- Make the cheapest possible version of a fix.
- Show it to 5 shops or buyers in person.
- Use their objections to improve it.
Apply This Lesson
Pick an idea from your last scan, or type your own.