00:00I think that there's a lot of things changing at Apple right now.
00:02Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the companies that believed in their business even when no one else did.
00:09We're unveiling the Xbox.
00:12Number 10, Airbnb.
00:14Launched in 2008, Air Bed and Breakfast began with a literal air mattress on the floor of founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia's San Francisco apartment.
00:22I discovered something. One weekend I couldn't pay rent.
00:24I decided to let people in my house, only to make money for the most part. I thought it'd be fun.
00:28While homestays were already an established idea offered by the likes of Verbo and HomeAway, Airbnb stood out because of its home-sharing aspect.
00:35Going on vacation to stay with a stranger in their home?
00:38It sounded insane to investors who often refused to even meet with Chesky and Gebbia.
00:42You can take an idea that people might think is a little crazy, and you can find a way in.
00:47The two founders ended up selling cereal to raise the funds themselves, until people noticed their idea catching on.
00:53Today, Airbnb is a giant in the travel industry, rivaling traditional hotels.
00:57Clearly, this wasn't such a crazy idea.
01:04Number 9, Ring.
01:06In 2013, Jamie Siminoff presented his company, DoorBot, on Shark Tank, hoping to cut an investment deal.
01:11Sharks, wouldn't it have been nice to know who was behind the door before you let me in?
01:15Only one shark, Kevin O'Leary, made Siminoff an offer.
01:18Sticking to his guns and believing in the value of his business, Siminoff turned his modest offer down.
01:22We have a vision, I think, to build a big company out of this.
01:26And I can't give someone 10% of all of our sales because it'll bleed us of cash while we really need it the most.
01:32I'm basically providing you factoring capital. You need my $700,000 for inventory.
01:36But respectfully, I can raise that money through venture debt or line of credit or something else.
01:41DoorBot was later rebranded as Ring, the home security and smart doorbell manufacturer that has taken off everywhere.
01:47Part of Ring's success is owed to the organic marketing produced by viral videos taken on Ring cameras.
01:51Hey there.
01:54I see you right there, aren't you?
01:57In 2018, Amazon bought Ring for nearly $1 billion, far more than Siminoff originally valued the company at on Shark Tank.
02:05Whatever happened to peeking through the window and saying, go away?
02:08Number 8. FedEx
02:09While a student at Yale, Fred Smith, wrote a paper about how to optimize shipping methods to deliver goods faster.
02:15Business is business. And as we all know, in order to get something done, you've got to do something.
02:17In order to do something, we've got to get to work. So let's get to work. Thank you for taking the meeting.
02:20Undeterred by the C he received on his paper, Smith turned his idea into a business in the 1970s with Federal Express.
02:26However, the 1973 oil crisis quickly put FedEx into massive amounts of debt.
02:30We run out of money and we didn't have all of the regulatory requirements we needed.
02:41With his last $5,000, Smith decided to take another risk. He went to Vegas and played a little blackjack.
02:46His literal gamble paid off, earning him $27,000 that helped keep the company from going under.
02:51Today, FedEx has grown into a multinational shipping conglomerate known around the world.
02:58Number 7. Play-Doh
03:00This colorful, kid-friendly putty was originally manufactured for a very different purpose.
03:04Kids love to squish it and squash it and roll it!
03:09In 1912, soap maker Cut-Off Products developed a substance that could clean soot from wallpaper.
03:14After World War II, when oil, gas, and electricity began replacing coal in the home,
03:18the market for soot cleaner quickly shrank.
03:20So as gas and electric heating came in, there was no longer a need for the cleaning goo.
03:27Joseph McVicker was tasked with saving Cut-Off Products from bankruptcy
03:30when his sister-in-law, a nursery school teacher, suggested he market it as a toy.
03:35Cut-Off Products began manufacturing the putty in bright, kid-approved colors
03:38and marketing to schools under the name Play-Doh.
03:40Though it very nearly became obsolete, Play-Doh has endured for decades as a childhood favorite toy.
03:46Open a can of imagination with Play-Doh!
03:48Number 6. Crocs
03:49When these shoes first launched, most consumers agreed that the foam clogs weren't exactly the height of fashion.
03:54Still, despite their outward appearance, Crocs were comfortable and practical,
03:57especially for groups like gardeners, healthcare professionals, and cooks.
04:00Labeled as a fad, Crocs sales surged more than 225% last year.
04:05After the initial excitement surrounding the controversial shoe, sales began to fall.
04:10To save the company, CEO Andrew Reese decided he would take on the Herculean task of making Crocs
04:15not just practical, but genuinely cool and trendy as well.
04:18Across the globe, that younger consumer wants to be able to turn a generic purchase
04:22into a personal purchase and tell a story.
04:24Collaborations with designers, celebrity endorsements, and social media marketing have all transformed Crocs
04:29and it was a surprisingly fashion-forward brand.
04:32Fashion's all about making a statement.
04:33And a pair of Crocs full of gibbets certainly has something to say.
04:37In 2024, the company said they brought in $271 million worth of sales from these alone.
04:42Number 5. Reddit
04:43Founded by two college roommates in 2005, Reddit looked like a ghost town upon its initial launch.
04:49You'll also notice I had a t-shirt with a mascot that I designed long before we actually built a website.
04:54The challenging part of making a website based around user-generated content and discussion
04:58is that you actually need some users.
05:00So Steve Huffman and Alex Ohanian followed the old adage.
05:03Fake it till you make it.
05:05They created hundreds of fake accounts to post content and leave comments, being careful
05:08to establish the specific kind of tone and discourse they hoped to see on Reddit.
05:12Eventually, real users started creating accounts and contributed to the conversations.
05:17And the fake accounts were no longer needed.
05:18Word of mouth has always been the most powerful form of advertising and now Reddit is where that conversation happens.
05:24Today, Reddit is the ninth most visited website in the world, with subreddits to appeal to every possible niche on the internet.
05:30There are Redditors on the R Sharknado subreddit sharing photos and updates and so that's how we know it's on its way.
05:36Number 4. Microsoft
05:37In 2001, Microsoft was already long established as a major player in the tech industry, but they wanted to try something new.
05:43You may have been wondering what this draped device was here.
05:46Video game console companies like Sony and Nintendo were developing their products into broader home entertainment systems that rivaled a personal computer.
05:54Microsoft decided to take on these video game giants by launching its own console, the Xbox.
05:58The Xbox is everything The Rock is.
06:00Cutting edge, powerful, exhilarating.
06:03And like The Rock, it will be the most electrifying thing coming out this year.
06:08Though initial sales weren't very impressive, Microsoft stood by its Xbox line and continued developing it.
06:13Today, Xbox and PlayStation compete directly to produce the most popular, high-performance gaming systems on the market.
06:20It is truly the future of video games and I'm very excited to simply be a part of it if you smell what The Rock is cooking.
06:28Number 3. Twitter
06:29The initial idea for Twitter was introduced by Jack Dorsey in 2006.
06:33By 2007, Twitter users were already posting a collective 60,000 tweets per day.
06:38Three weeks ago, I had 90 followers and today I have more than 2,000 followers.
06:43The company grew rapidly with much critical acclaim.
06:45By 2009, Twitter was ranked the third most popular social networking site.
06:49During Twitter's early growth, Facebook took notice.
06:52Mark Zuckerberg offered to buy the company for $500 million in 2008.
06:56In a shocking move, Twitter turned the generous offer down.
06:58Just becoming very popular and proving that Twitter can be a reliable and interesting and useful tool around the world,
07:05that's only kind of half the job.
07:07The other half of the job is, can we build a business on this?
07:10It continued to grow and became a direct competitor to Facebook.
07:13In 2023, Twitter famously sold to Elon Musk for a whopping $44 billion, 88 times Zuckerberg's original offer.
07:21In a message to advertisers posted on Twitter, Musk said he doesn't want the platform to become what he calls
07:27a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.
07:32Number 2. Netflix
07:33Inspired by Amazon's online bookseller model, the founders of Netflix saw DVDs as the next big thing in internet retail.
07:40There's a better way to rent movies.
07:41As many as you want for just $20 a month and no late fees.
07:44After its initial launch, both Amazon and Blockbuster offered to buy the company for millions of dollars,
07:50but both offers were turned down.
07:51As the DVD grew in popularity, so did Netflix, but they had their eyes on another prize.
07:56As early as 2005, Netflix was working towards a streaming service.
07:59With Netflix, you could watch unlimited television shows and movies instantly through gaming consoles and other devices.
08:05While DVD players were still a hot Christmas item, Netflix continued to expand its streaming capabilities.
08:10This innovative attitude kept it ahead of the game in both DVD rentals and streaming,
08:14allowing Netflix to radically shift the market multiple times since its initial founding.
08:18What we want to do is offer a variety.
08:20You know, you don't want to watch the same thing every night as much as you like it.
08:23You want to try different things.
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08:40Number 1. Apple
08:42After Apple's initial success in the world of personal computers in the 70s and 80s, the company hit a rough patch.
08:47Once a mighty giant in the industry, now Apple computers are given little shelf space in most stores.
08:54Steve Jobs had stepped down as CEO, new Apple products weren't selling, and the company faced fierce competition from Microsoft and IBM.
09:01It seemed like this California tech company's short run was over.
09:04In 1997, Jobs returned to take up the reins once again.
09:07I think that we're going to get to a new trend, but that new trend will not become evident for another quarter or so.
09:14He decided to shift the business model, focusing on innovation and appealing to a wider audience.
09:18He introduced the iMac and the iPod, which became wildly popular with consumers.
09:22Apple was rapidly returning to the top, but the iPhone clinched the deal.
09:26An iPod, a phone, are you getting it?
09:33The now ubiquitous product changed the smartphone industry and further cemented Steve Jobs and Apple's legacy.
09:40Which company do you think will be the next craziest success story?
09:42Let us know in the comments.
09:44And this is the home screen of iPhone right here.
09:47We'll see you next time.
