Can Being Deceptive Help You Build Your Business? It Worked for These 5 Entrepreneurs. We've all told little white lies. But what about the big ones? What if telling them would bring your business success?

We all commit little acts of deception, like saying we got stuck in traffic when we were really late to the meeting because we wanted to watch the last five minutes of a favorite TV show. Little white lies? I've told them. You've told them.

Related: Use This Secret Military Trick to Tell if Someone Is Lying

But what about big lies, the kind truly lacking in integrity -- like misrepresenting your sales to a prospective investor?

Obviously, there are often severe consequences to lying. Depending on the context, you could lose the trust of a peer, break a professional relationship or even face legal action. Yet, despite these consequences, lying is more common in the entrepreneurial world than you might think.

Just take as an example these five entrepreneurs, who might not be as well known or successful as they are if it weren't for some clever acts of deception:

1. Steve Huffman (and crew) faked Reddit accounts.

Reddit currently stands as one of the most powerful sites and most influential communities on the internet, with more than 5 billion monthly unique users. But in the early days, if you posted on the fast-growing forum, there was a good chance you were communicating with a fake user.

According to co-founder Steve Huffman, during Reddit's early days, the founders created tons of fake accounts, and used them as mouthpieces to create the tone they wanted for the website while simultaneously providing enough content to make the site seem popular.

The ruse worked, and in just a few years, there was enough of a real community that the fake users were no longer needed.

Related: What Should Employers Do About Misrepresentation?

2. Steve Jobs hid the bugs that could have ruined the iPhone.

In 2007, the iPhone hadn't yet led the world to our still-fresh smartphone revolution. Steve Jobs knew the technology had enormous potential, but shortly before the product's long-scheduled initial demo, it was still riddled with bugs; the device seemed to crash after every media play, and to crash in response to certain app switches.

Instead of rescheduling the demo or announcing the bugs that still required work, Jobs intentionally used the device in a specific way that hid all the bugs, and even altered the screen to show a wireless signal much stronger than what actually existed. One Apple engineer described the misleadingly near-perfect demo as "practically a miracle."

3. Kathy Taggares ran with a mistaken assumption.

Kathy Taggares of KT's Kitchens, once a $32 million business, got her start after failing to disclose an important piece of information. Working for a company called Chef Ready, Taggares approached Marriott International in an attempt to purchase one of its salad dressing factories, for $5 million.

Marriott International seemed open to the idea and even offered to help finance the deal over the course of several years -- but the company was under the mistaken assumption that Taggares was trying to buy the factory for Chef Ready, rather than for herself. The deal went through before Marriott even asked or found out, and Taggares got to build her business from the ground up.

4. Elon Musk continues to spin his latest launches.

Last year, Elon Musk announced that the Tesla Model 3 would be ready to ship in August 2017 and cost $35,000 -- except that neither of those things was completely true. The bare-bones Model 3, without the highly coveted Autopilot feature, costs $35,000. On top of that, you'll need to spend $5,000 for Autopilot, $3,000 for full self-driving capabilities, $9,000 for upgraded range and interior and $1,500 for a home charger.

The Model 3 also did technically launch in August, but only a tiny number of the cars came out – and went only to Tesla employees. Granted, none of the announcement was technically untrue, but it certainly was misleading, while making the company look better than an announcement with the full details would have.

5. David Geffen lied about his education.

Business magnate David Geffen co-created Asylum Records, Geffen Records, DGC Records and DreamWorks SKG during the course of his career. He's currently worth $8.1 billion. But according to Fortune, he may not have gotten as far or as fast as he did had he not lied on his resume.

For example, he admitted to lying on an application for a talent agency, about attending and graduating from UCLA. Knowing the potential consequences of the lie, he went in early every day for months, intercepted the letter that stated he had never graduated and got rid of the evidence. Geffen admits he didn't set a great example, but has said he doesn't have a problem with having lied to advance his career possibilities.

The upshot of these stories? They're not relayed here to condone lying or deception, only to serve as support for the idea that oftentimes, entrepreneurs with strong convictions are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful -- even if that means temporarily bending their integrity.

Related: 3 Scientifically-Proven Ways to Spot Liars in Your Emails

If a small act of deception or lie by omission has the power to save your business, make sure to weigh the pros and cons carefully. You may find it's a risk worth taking, just as these five entrepreneurs did.