ONWARD STILLFounder story archiveWe turn scattered founder interviews into people, timelines, first moves, turning points, and source-linked evidence—so the useful patterns are easier to find.
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Deeply sourcedDyslexia, a teacher calling her a "dumb kid", and 20 jobs before she turned 23. She borrowed $1,000 in 1973 to start a New York real-estate brokerage, sold it in 2001 for $66M in cash, and then spent 17 seasons on Shark Tank.
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Deeply sourcedSerial operator across embroidery kits (Sunset Designs), Paradise Bakery, networking firms CMC and GTSI, and then cancer-drug developer Pharmacyclics, maker of the leukemia drug Imbruvica, plus Pulse Biosciences. Peak value on record: $21B.
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Deeply sourcedAuthor of "10X": from car salesman to a sales-training empire and Cardone Capital, a real-estate fund. His father died when he was 10, he overdosed three times in his twenties, and sales turned his life around before 30; since 2017 he has raised money from retail investors under Regulation A to buy multifamily housing.
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Deeply sourcedRaised by a single mother in Philadelphia while his father was in prison on drug charges; his first show ended with him booed off stage and pelted with fried chicken. He broke into film and TV with Undeclared in 2001, launched the LOL network with Lionsgate in 2017 and later took control of it, building Hartbeat.
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Deeply sourcedSays he had polio as an infant and started out driving a garbage truck at $6.25 an hour. He closed nothing in his first 18 months selling insurance and did not have a million-dollar year until he was 45; he now sells high-ticket courses on closing and pricing through Skillionaire Enterprises, Inc., a 2023 Inc. 5000 company.
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Deeply sourcedFounder of Raising Cane's. His business-school plan for a chicken-finger-only restaurant earned the lowest grade in the class; he saved money at an oil refinery and commercial fishing in Alaska, opened the first store in 1996, and is now a billionaire by Forbes' count.
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Deeply sourcedCEO of the student-housing developer Campus Apartments since 1997, co-founder of the alternative asset manager FS Investments (about $24B in assets) and of the family office Darco Capital, and a partner in HBSE, which owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils. Peak value on record: $80B.
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Deeply sourcedTurned a ski shop into KPR Sports, a wholesaler of closeout sports gear, then built GSI Commerce for e-commerce fulfillment and Fanatics, the licensed sports merchandise and trading-card giant he bought back in 2011 and expanded with Topps for $500M in 2022. Peak value on record: $12B.
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Deeply sourcedFounded Related Companies in 1972 with $10,000 borrowed from his mother after Bear Stearns fired him; it became one of America's largest developers and the force behind Manhattan's Hudson Yards. He also owns the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium and co-founded RSE Ventures. Peak value on record: $17B.
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