"Spanx founder Sara Blakely turned her $5,000 savings from selling fax machines into a shapewear empire. By keeping her idea secret early on, hustling inside department stores, and never taking outside investors, she built the brand entirely on her own terms. Her scrappy, rule-breaking tactics ultimately paid off-culminating in a $1.2 billion payout when she sold the company in 2021. Building the next-big-thing requires entrepreneurs to make a lot of bets-on their idea, starting team, and even business name. But for Spanx founder Sara Blakely, the ultimate bet came from betting on herself."
""Don't ever underestimate the importance of storytelling. You are your greatest competitive advantage," Blakely tells Fortune. It's a mantra that helped her take her $5,000 in savings from selling fax machines and turn it into a $1.2 billion women's shapewear empire. When she first started Spanx, she deliberately kept her idea hidden-even from her closest friends and family. "Ideas are the most vulnerable in the moment you have them."
Sara Blakely used $5,000 saved from selling fax machines to launch Spanx and build a global shapewear brand. She deliberately kept the product idea secret during the early phase and promoted products by hustling inside department stores. She refused outside investors and grew the company independently over two decades. She emphasized storytelling as a core competitive advantage and intentionally delayed telling friends and family to avoid early ego and negative feedback. Her scrappy, rule-breaking tactics and decision to bet on herself culminated in a $1.2 billion payout when she sold Spanx in 2021.
Read at Fortune
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