Every founder has an origin story.
Tobi was trying to sell snowboards online but couldn’t find an adequate e-commerce platform = Shopify
Travis and Garrett were trying to hail a cab in Paris and wondered why it couldn’t be done with their phone = Uber
Brian was trying to make rent and opened up a room to rent during a design conference in SFO = AirBnB
These stories have become legends over time. How far off from the truth is not really clear however what is common among these great stories is that they’ve lived long enough to become legends.
Their products became bigger than their story.
The story is an essential part of building a company. It’s how you find your first investors, convince your first employees to come on board, find your first customers and guides the early version of your product. It is the only asset you have at that stage.
At some point, the story needs to be taken over by results. Growth. Sales. Expansion. A business is born and the story becomes an anecdote.
We only really hear the legendary founding origin stories after the success of the founders and their companies. The stories are not unique but what makes them known is the success of the company. You know Tobi, Travis, Garrett, Brian, Bill, Steve, Larry, Jeff, Mark and many others from their stories, you remember them because you use their products every day.