One Pattern I see everywhere, and it‘s painfully obvious, but rarely discussed;
How most Entrepreneurs get Rich
Step 1: Work inside a specific industry.
Step 2: Spot problems, inefficiencies, or unmet needs.
Step 3: Start a business that solves those problems.
Step 4: Dominate. Get rich.
Here are 20 examples that prove this is a repeatable path:
Mark Cuban
Job: Sold PC software at a computer store (Your Business Software)
Problem: His boss fired him for closing a sale instead of opening the store.
Business: Started MicroSolutions, a computer consulting and systems integration company.
Outcome: Sold for $6M. Led to Broadcast.com.
MJ DeMarco
Job: Limousine driver
Problem: Booking, dispatch, and customer scheduling were inefficient.
Business: Built an online limo reservation and dispatch software (Limos.com).
Outcome: Sold the business. Became author of The Millionaire Fastlane .
What This Means for Us (You and me);
Every industry is filled with broken processes, underserved customers, bloated middlemen, and outdated tech. Most people working inside don’t have the guts to solve it. Most people outside don’t understand it well enough to see the opportunity.
Go get inside a system. Learn it. Live it.
Then rip it apart and rebuild it better.
Who else sees this pattern?
How most Entrepreneurs get Rich
Step 1: Work inside a specific industry.
Step 2: Spot problems, inefficiencies, or unmet needs.
Step 3: Start a business that solves those problems.
Step 4: Dominate. Get rich.
Here are 20 examples that prove this is a repeatable path:
- Jan Koum (WhatsApp) – Worked at Yahoo, hated the ad-driven model. Built a clean, ad-free messaging app.
- Howard Schultz (Starbucks) – Worked at Starbucks before it was a café chain. Saw the Italian espresso bar model. Scaled it in the U.S.
- Travis Kalanick (Uber) – Was in the tech startup scene, hated the taxi experience. Built a better one.
- Sara Blakely (Spanx) – Sold fax machines door to door. Got tired of ugly undergarments. Created sleek shapewear.
- Jeff Bezos (Amazon) – Worked at a hedge fund analyzing online trends. Saw e-commerce potential. Built it himself.
- Reed Hastings (Netflix) – Ran a software company, hated late fees at Blockbuster. Created a new model.
- Sam Walton (Walmart) – Ran a Ben Franklin franchise. Saw supply chain inefficiencies. Fixed them.
- Phil Knight (Nike) – Sold Japanese shoes. Knew what U.S. athletes wanted. Built his own brand.
- Elon Musk (Zip2, X.com) – Worked in tech. Understood broken finance systems. Built PayPal.
- Fred Smith (FedEx) – Studied logistics in the military. Realized overnight delivery wasn’t being done. Created it.
- Ben Silbermann (Pinterest) – Worked at Google. Knew the power of curated discovery. Built it himself.
- Brian Chesky (Airbnb) – Saw hotels price people out. Created a decentralized alternative.
- Tony Hsieh (Zappos) – Ran an online ad network. Saw e-commerce opportunity in shoes. Nailed CX.
- Daniel Ek (Spotify) – In the music tech world. Saw piracy dominating. Built a legal alternative.
- Larry Ellison (Oracle) – Worked for the CIA. Built better database systems. Sold them to corporations.
- Marc Andreessen (Netscape) – Worked on early browsers. Saw the future of the web. Capitalized early.
- Stewart Butterfield (Slack) – Tried to build a game. Internal tool was more useful. Spun it off.
- Drew Houston (Dropbox) – Forgot a USB drive. Built cloud storage for everyone.
- Robert Langer (Moderna) – Spent decades in bio-research. Saw a better mRNA delivery system. Built a billion-dollar biotech.
- Richard Branson (Virgin) – Ran a record store. Got screwed by labels. Launched his own.
Mark Cuban
Job: Sold PC software at a computer store (Your Business Software)
Problem: His boss fired him for closing a sale instead of opening the store.
Business: Started MicroSolutions, a computer consulting and systems integration company.
Outcome: Sold for $6M. Led to Broadcast.com.
MJ DeMarco
Job: Limousine driver
Problem: Booking, dispatch, and customer scheduling were inefficient.
Business: Built an online limo reservation and dispatch software (Limos.com).
Outcome: Sold the business. Became author of The Millionaire Fastlane .
What This Means for Us (You and me);
Every industry is filled with broken processes, underserved customers, bloated middlemen, and outdated tech. Most people working inside don’t have the guts to solve it. Most people outside don’t understand it well enough to see the opportunity.
Go get inside a system. Learn it. Live it.
Then rip it apart and rebuild it better.
Who else sees this pattern?
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