Sam Walton opened a Ben Franklin variety store franchise in 1945. He engaged in fierce competition with the Sterling store across the street. His main tactic was undercutting prices on items like ladies’ underwear. Sam Walton innovated by buying direct from manufacturers. Thereby saving 25% and passing those savings to customers. Which laid the groundwork for Walmart’s business model. It was against the rules not to buy wholesale from his franchisor. Sam went around them, buying direct from alte

Sam Walton opened a Ben Franklin variety store franchise in 1945. He engaged in fierce competition with the Sterling store across the street. His main tactic was undercutting prices on items like ladies’ underwear. Sam Walton innovated by buying direct from manufacturers. Thereby saving 25% and passing those savings to customers. Which laid the groundwork for Walmart’s business model. It was against the rules not to buy wholesale from his franchisor. Sam went around them, buying direct from alte

In 1985, Forbes Magazine declared Sam Walton the richest man in America. He was the founder of Walmart. Sam Walton preferred not to live an extravagant lifestyle. He drove an old pickup truck. He wore a Walmart trucker hat. The local barber gave him regular haircuts. Walmart lost half a billion dollars after the stock market crash in 1987. Walton’s response? “It’s only paper.” Sam Walton was born in 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. His father, Thomas Gibson Walton, was a natural negotiator and ban

In 1985, Forbes Magazine declared Sam Walton the richest man in America. He was the founder of Walmart. Sam Walton preferred not to live an extravagant lifestyle. He drove an old pickup truck. He wore a Walmart trucker hat. The local barber gave him regular haircuts. Walmart lost half a billion dollars after the stock market crash in 1987. Walton’s response? “It’s only paper.” Sam Walton was born in 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. His father, Thomas Gibson Walton, was a natural negotiator and ban

When the Great Miami River flooded Dayton Ohio in March 1913, John Patterson wired The New York Times: “Situation here desperate. All people, except on outskirts, imprisoned by water. They have had no food, no drinking water, no light, no heat for two days.” As the floodwaters rose, Patterson converted the National Cash Register factory. It would now mass produce rowboats to reach and rescue the stranded residents. A community leader at his eulogy had this to say: Patterson “turned the force ...

When the Great Miami River flooded Dayton Ohio in March 1913, John Patterson wired The New York Times: “Situation here desperate. All people, except on outskirts, imprisoned by water. They have had no food, no drinking water, no light, no heat for two days.” As the floodwaters rose, Patterson converted the National Cash Register factory. It would now mass produce rowboats to reach and rescue the stranded residents. A community leader at his eulogy had this to say: Patterson “turned the force ...

In 1998, Bill Gross launched GoTo.com. It was a pioneering search site that introduced pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. PPC works by auctioning search results to the highest bidder. Yahoo acquired GoTo and renamed it Overture. Overture wasn’t a top search destination. But it laid the groundwork for the now-standard PPC advertising model. Page and Brin placed Google under Eric Schmidt’s leadership as CEO. Under his leadership, it evolved PPC further with AdWords in 2002.

They called it “Backrub.” In 1997, the name changed to Google, a misspelling of “googol” — a term representing a 1 followed by 100 zeros. In a 1998 email, Google co-founder Larry Page used the word “googling”. The term gained significant popularity. Pop culture started to reference Google, such as on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in 2002. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had no formal business plan. They received a $100,000 investment from ...

In the early nineties, finding useful information on the internet was challenging. This was due to the rudimentary nature of search engines. They often functioned more like directories. Both Yahoo! Search and LookSmart launched in 1995. In 1996, two guys from Berkeley, California, founded Ask Jeeves. This search engine was innovative at the time. Users asked “Jeeves” questions rather than searching with keywords. They launched it in 1997, but Ask Jeeves had limitations.

The year is 1993. Location? Denny’s restaurant in San Jose, California, on Berryessa Road. Denny’s at 2484 Berryessa Rd offers breakfast all day. This Denny’s is famous for something else, and it’s not the Super Bird sandwich. This Denny’s has a famous corner booth. Sitting at a corner booth we find Jensen Huang. With him is Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, meeting to discuss their project. “Creating a chip that would enable realistic 3D graphics on personal computers”.

Peter Theil would consider Facebook a natural monopoly. It’s become THE social networking platform. Most people connect with family and friends on Facebook. Features including the “Like” button solidified its early dominance in the market. Facebook introduced the Like button in 2007. Which simplified user interactions and promoted content based on engagement. As a second–order consequence, sensational or divisive content is often prioritized. Facebook introduced the Open Graph in 2010. Which fur

A series of disputes and lawsuits make up the legal and business history of Facebook. It starts with the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra suing Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. They accused him of stealing their ConnectU idea to create Facebook. Zuckerberg faced another lawsuit from co-founder Eduardo Saverin over share dilution. Saverin received $5 billion in shares. Facebook’s rapid growth attracted major investments. This included a $240 million stake from Microsoft in 2007, valuing the company ..

Mark Zuckerberg was a child prodigy. He learned to code and ship useful software. This included CourseMatch, which helped students choose their classes. That predated Facemash, the hot-or-not game. He co-founded Facebook at Harvard University in 2004. Eduardo Saverin contributed significant financial support. Facebook grew in popularity. This motivated Zuckerberg and co-founder Dustin Moskovitz to move operations to Silicon Valley. Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, played a crucial role in Fac

In 1998, Bill Gross launched GoTo.com. It was a pioneering search site that introduced pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. PPC works by auctioning search results to the highest bidder. Yahoo acquired GoTo and renamed it Overture. Overture wasn’t a top search destination. But it laid the groundwork for the now-standard PPC advertising model. Page and Brin placed Google under Eric Schmidt’s leadership as CEO. Under his leadership, it evolved PPC further with AdWords in 2002.

They called it “Backrub.” In 1997, the name changed to Google, a misspelling of “googol” — a term representing a 1 followed by 100 zeros. In a 1998 email, Google co-founder Larry Page used the word “googling”. The term gained significant popularity. Pop culture started to reference Google, such as on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in 2002. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had no formal business plan. They received a $100,000 investment from ...

In the early nineties, finding useful information on the internet was challenging. This was due to the rudimentary nature of search engines. They often functioned more like directories. Both Yahoo! Search and LookSmart launched in 1995. In 1996, two guys from Berkeley, California, founded Ask Jeeves. This search engine was innovative at the time. Users asked “Jeeves” questions rather than searching with keywords. They launched it in 1997, but Ask Jeeves had limitations.

The year is 1993. Location? Denny’s restaurant in San Jose, California, on Berryessa Road. Denny’s at 2484 Berryessa Rd offers breakfast all day. This Denny’s is famous for something else, and it’s not the Super Bird sandwich. This Denny’s has a famous corner booth. Sitting at a corner booth we find Jensen Huang. With him is Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, meeting to discuss their project. “Creating a chip that would enable realistic 3D graphics on personal computers”.

Peter Theil would consider Facebook a natural monopoly. It’s become THE social networking platform. Most people connect with family and friends on Facebook. Features including the “Like” button solidified its early dominance in the market. Facebook introduced the Like button in 2007. Which simplified user interactions and promoted content based on engagement. As a second–order consequence, sensational or divisive content is often prioritized. Facebook introduced the Open Graph in 2010. Which fur

A series of disputes and lawsuits make up the legal and business history of Facebook. It starts with the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra suing Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. They accused him of stealing their ConnectU idea to create Facebook. Zuckerberg faced another lawsuit from co-founder Eduardo Saverin over share dilution. Saverin received $5 billion in shares. Facebook’s rapid growth attracted major investments. This included a $240 million stake from Microsoft in 2007, valuing the company ..

Mark Zuckerberg was a child prodigy. He learned to code and ship useful software. This included CourseMatch, which helped students choose their classes. That predated Facemash, the hot-or-not game. He co-founded Facebook at Harvard University in 2004. Eduardo Saverin contributed significant financial support. Facebook grew in popularity. This motivated Zuckerberg and co-founder Dustin Moskovitz to move operations to Silicon Valley. Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, played a crucial role in Fac