The Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time

On June 27, 2007 BusinessWeek published an article, "The Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time."

They acknowledge that a lifetime could be spent compiling a list without ever agreeing on who deserves a mention, as there are far too many figures to choose from to give anyone the final say. In other words, they acknowledge their list's inherent subjectivity. To compile it, they consulted with professors, authors, and BusinessWeek staffers. Their criteria for entrepreneurs to be considered among the greatest was simple: If they had the vision to create new markets or tap into underserved markets, changing the way people lived in the process, then they were candidates for the list.

They eventually came up with a list of 30 players. I think the value of the list of 30 lies in the key learning points we can take from it. Here is BusinessWeek's list of Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time, with a key learning we can take away from each of these:

1. Admiral Zheng He (b. around 1371, d. 1433): He's journeys matched the risks taken by the boldest entrepreneurs - and the payoff set a high bar for six centuries of risk takers to follow.
2. Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706, d. 1790): Franklin's idea that people can improve their lives through their own hard work and enterprise, as he did, continues to encourage the American Dream.
3. Mayer Amschel Rothschild (b. 1744, d. 1812): In an era of nation-states that were just beginning to industrialize, Rothschild created the world's first multinational. Because his company crossed borders, it was not beholden to any one ruler.
4. John Jacob Astor (b. 1763, d. 1848): Astor built on one successful enterprise by investing the profits into another.
5. Andrew Carnegie (b. 1835, d. 1919): Recognizing the innovations that will catalyze an industry means the difference between shutting down the competition and getting shut down.
6. John D. Rockefeller (b. 1839, d. 1937): Rockefeller used economies of scale and vertical integration to modernize an industry.
7. Thomas Edison (b. 1847, d. 1931): Innovation is crucial, but new ideas alone will not make a business successful. Ideas need to be focused into products that customers will value.
8. Milton Hershey (b. 1857, d. 1945): Hershey created an iconic product at a price that let millions enjoy what once had been reserved for the wealthy. Selling "low-cost luxury" became a viable business model.
9. W.K. Kellogg (b. 1860, d. 1951): Kellogg's accidental discovery, promoted with savvy marketing, transformed the way Americans ate breakfast.
10. Joseph Horn (b. 1861, d. 1941) and Frank Hardart (b. 1850, d. 1918): Horn and Hardart saw a change in the way people worked and delivered a product that fit that new lifestyle.
11. Henry Ford (b. 1863, d. 1947): Ford made a product once considered a luxury available to a mass market by transforming the manufacturing process.
12. Ray Kroc (b. 1902, d. 1984): Taking the long view rewarded Kroc, even though he might have made more money earlier by milking his franchisees. Entrepreneurs who invest in the long-term growth of their businesses at the cost of short-term profits can look to him as an example.
13. Madam C.J. Walker (b. 1867, d. 1919): The era's ingrained racism left a huge part of the population underserved by the market. Walker profited by making them her customers.
14. Estée Lauder (b. 1907, d. 2004): Lauder became a giant in the nascent beauty industry by making sure the quality of her products exceeded the expectations of her target market, namely wealthy society women.
15. Ernest Gallo (b. 1909, d. 2007): Gallo took what had been an exclusive product and aggressively sold it to a mass market.
16. Thomas Watson Sr. (b. 1874, d. 1956) and Thomas Watson Jr. (b. 1914, d. 1993): Watson Sr. built up a global corporation from nothing by investing in his employees and research. His son built on that success to develop and market a technology that transformed the world.
17. Sam Walton (b. 1918, d. 1992): Walton never wavered from his strategy even as other discounters broke into midmarket products, and low prices won out in the end.
18. Earl Graves (b. 1935): The civil rights movement aimed to achieve equality under the law, but the struggle for equal economic opportunity goes on today. It's a fight Graves continues to lead.
19. Andy Grove (b. 1936): Innovation, adaptation, and being in the right place at the right time allowed Grove and Intel to transform the way information is delivered to consumers.
20. Ralph Lauren (b. 1939): Lauren imagined a market for men's fashion as large as that for women.
21. Muhammad Yunus (b. 1940): Yunus imagined what would happen if a bank extended credit to those people who would never traditionally receive it. In the process, he created a system that empowered the poor by helping them become entrepreneurs.
22. Martha Stewart (b. 1941): Stewart profited by making her name into an attractive lifestyle brand.
23. Azim Premji (b. 1945): Premji built a leading IT company as the industry was growing and he expanded into the global market by adhering to rigorous standards.
24. Richard Branson (b. 1950): Branson is aggressive in pushing his companies into new industries - an approach that has made the Virgin brand bigger than any one of his individual holdings ever could be.
25. Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954): Oprah combined charisma and business savvy to become one of the most powerful people in media.
26. Steve Jobs (b. 1955): Jobs recognized that style and ease of use are as important as substance for a certain type of customer. No one had built a computer for that buyer until he did.
27. Bill Gates (b. 1955): Once Gates began to transform the PC industry, he developed a two-prong strategy of expanding the market while maintaining a stranglehold on competitors.
28. Jeff Bezos (b. 1964): At a time when the Internet was still new to most Americans, Bezos realized how quickly it would change the way the world does business and seized the opportunity.
29. Michael Dell (b. 1965): Cutting out the retail middleman and custom-building computers to suit buyers' needs put Dell at the front of the class of PC makers.
30. Pierre Omidyar (b. 1967): Omidyar created the infrastructure of e-commerce for individuals.

View the full article at: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2007/sb20070627_564139.htm

View the slideshow of the 30 players at: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/06/0628_greatest_entp/index_01.htm