What This Casket Maker Learned from Honda, Tesla and Steve Jobs Former auto designer Joseph Ledinh knows he's in a grim business. But that's why it's so exciting.

When Joseph Ledinh's grandfather passed away, in 1998, he and his father went casket shopping. "Every funeral home in New Jersey had the same product," he says. "Hillenbrand, Matthews International and Aurora controlled the market. It was frustrating, but there was nothing we could do -- we had to buy that day."

Ledinh figured there was a business in making modern caskets, but the timing was wrong: He was focused on becoming an automotive designer. He soon got a job at Honda, which was less glamorous than he expected. "In the beginning, you think you're going to be designing the coolest car, but I got put on the Honda Accord," he says with a laugh. "Working on that project, however, I understood it's their bread and butter. You can't design a product so outrageous that only five people buy it. You need 5,000 -- or 500,000."

After 10 years, he arrived at Peugeot and got to make the cool stuff -- the "cars of the future," those conceptual designs that draw crowds at trade shows. It was, he felt, the pinnacle of his career. "After that, I thought, Where next?" he says. Then he remembered the caskets. He googled the phrase "modern casket," and nothing came up. Bingo.