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Velocity173
Can’t say I approve of his driving practices but a fascinating story of how FedEx was founded.
FedEx Founder
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Piperonca
Fred Smith was an undergraduate at Yale University in 1965. As part of the coursework, he wrote an economics paper exploring the process of transportation of goods in the United States. He found that the shippers relied on transporting large packages across the United States by means of truck or passenger airplanes. Smith thought of a more efficient transportation idea. He wrote a last minute paper on how a company carrying small, essential items by plane could be a much better business. He, however, did not go into details about how to actually run such a company. His paper was graded "C". But Smith did not give up on the idea and launched the company in 1971.
I see they left out the story of his trip to the casino:
In the early days of FedEx, Smith had to go to great lengths to keep the company afloat. In one instance, after a crucial business loan was denied, he took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on blackjack to cover the company's $24,000 fuel bill. It kept FedEx alive for one more week.
In the early days of FedEx, Smith had to go to great lengths to keep the company afloat. In one instance, after a crucial business loan was denied, he took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on blackjack to cover the company's $24,000 fuel bill. It kept FedEx alive for one more week.
3393RP
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3393RP
Pinecone
En-Route
I had heard it that he had borrowed the $5K from family, and that would keep them going one more day. He was in the airport headed back, saw a flight to Vegas, switched to it, won the money, keep the company alive for 1 more week, and those extra days put them over the hump and the rest is history.
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Velocity173
If that had been me, no one would have ever heard of FedEx.
If I would’ve gotten the $4 million from inheritance like he did, no one would have heard of FedEx either. Would’ve blown it all on toys.
Ventucky Red
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Jon
Wonder how that professor felt a few years later? Probably took credit for it at the faculty club.....