Companies that Started with Less than $2000 Investment

Groupon, a deal-of-the-day portal, was funded $1 million as seed money to develop the idea and transform into a full-fledged business that currently values at $312.9 million. In the contemporary market place, new businesses start with years of market research and huge investments. They go for funding from angel investors and venture capitalists with ideas based on years of experience and expertise. But there are few companies that were started with less than $2000 investment and without years of research and planning. Today these companies have become a reputed name in their space.

Dell

One time being the largest seller of personal computers and servers in the world, Dell was started by Michael Dell with an investment of just $1000. While attending the University of Texas in 1984, he founded the company as PCs Limited and initially ran the company from his dorm room until he decided to drop out of college to run his company full time. He got a family loan for $300,000 dollars and began to give his full attention to the new company. Today he has a net worth of $15 billion.

 Starbucks

An international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Starbucks was started by three academics, English teacher Jerry Baldwin, History teacher Zev Siegel and Writer Gordon Bowker; each investing just $1350 of their own money. After few days of operation, they borrowed another $5000 from the local bank.

The company was not growing to the mark, but all happened only when Howard Shultz started focusing not on selling coffee beans but on making coffee, tea and espresso drinks for customers inside the store. Today, the company has revenue of $10.71 billion with employee strength of more than 1,37,000.

 Nordstrom

A 16 year old boy left his home country of Sweden with just $5 in his pocket in 1887. He was

unable to speak a word of English and his name was John W. Nordstrom. In 1901, he opened a shoe store with his friend Carl Wallin in downtown Seattle. From the beginning his business philosophy was based on exceptional service, selection, quality and value and in 1923 they added their second store. Today Nordstrom has grown from one shoe store to a multi-billion dollar retail empire.

 Apple

Started in a garage of Steve Wozniack who was an electronics hacker and his friend Steve Jobs with an idea to create personal computer, Apple today is a known name for electronic products. They literally sold the shirts off their backs. Jobs invested $1,500 that he got from the proceeds from the sale of his VW bus, wherein Wozniack deposited $250 in the company's treasury.

With this fund, they established Apple Computer, Inc., in 1976 and 30 years later renamed the company as Apple Inc. to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. Today the company has revenue of $108.249 billion with employee strength of 60,400.

 Electronic Data Systems

Electronic Data Systems (EDS) was founded by Ross Perot in 1962 with just $1000. He selected the name from potential names he scribed on the back of a pledge envelop during a church service. But later on he sold the company to General Motors in 1984 and founded another company Perot Systems in 1988.

However, under his hand, the company went public in 1968 and today the company boasts revenues of $22.1 billion and has assets topping $19.2 billion.