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And They Said
it Couldn't be Done…

Meet the innovators who faced
repeated rejection and triumphed
despite the cynics.

INTERACTIVE TIMELINE: 100 Years of Business Innovation

VISIONARY ENTREPRENEURS

Jeff Bezos
In 1994, Jeff Bezos was already what many would consider extremely successful. The youngest-ever senior vice president at Wall Street investment banker D.E. Shaw & Co.

Oprah Winfrey
The queen of talk didn't let sexual abuse, poverty or racism hold her back. She's a media mogul with a soft spot for people and a penchant for following her instincts.

Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons didn’t invent rap. But he did play a leading role in the music’s astonishing success.

Ray Kroc
When Ray Kroc was a child, his father took him to a phrenologist—a practitioner who claimed he could predict the future by reading the bumps on a person’s head.

Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank
In 1978, when co-founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank stated that they wanted to make The Home Depot the Sears Roebuck of the home-improvement industry, a lot of people laughed at them.

More Visionaries »

Quiz: What's Your Entrepreneurial IQ?

EINSTEIN
& BUSINESS