It’s a well-known story that we hear commonly. A smart student or young entrepreneur has a brilliant idea, and decides to pursue it out of a garage or small office. Through the years, their startups success grows rapidly, and the brand becomes recognised globally. The owners become exceedingly wealthy.

With the likes of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and other internationally recognised names all coming from the same humble beginnings, it’s no wonder that so many people are rushing to start their own startups in the hopes of being next in line.

These are some billionaires who got rich from startups.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates and his business partner Paul Allen started Microsoft out of a garage in 1970. Quickly taking a hold of computer industry by supplying software to IBM, Microsoft dominated the market. Following this, Microsoft’s success continued to grow, resulting in it having a hand in almost every electronic transaction worldwide.

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, started business giant Amazon in a garage. Originally, Amazon was formed to sell books through an online platform. Popularity of the service skyrocketed, with sales up to $20,000 per week within 2 months. Amazon ended up becoming an ‘everything store’, which is now a business giant.

Mark Zuckerberg

Originally starting Facebook as Facemash in his Harvard dorm room, Zuckerberg was heavily criticised for his creation in which you compared photos of students and voted on who was more attractive. Following this, Facebook was born as a social media networking site for Harvard students.

It later expanded to further universities and colleges, then high school students and then anyone could join as long as they were 13 years old or above.

Facebook became one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.

These are some billionaires who made their success through startups with humble beginnings.

Airbnb is a service that is used globally for travel purposes, those looking for a place to relax or even for tenants. The company has become such a normalized thing that it is hard to imagine life before Airbnb. The accessibility that Airbnb provides, allowing you to book a room within a moment’s notice for anywhere in the world, is amazing. It is a platform that provides an incredible service for customers, as well as providing a place for landlords to rent out their properties easily. Airbnb management businesses have also sprang up, creating more jobs. Airbnb wasn’t always such a big company though, and it has some very humble beginnings.

Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had moved to San Francisco from New York, and had little cash. They decided to buy some air beds and set up a bed and breakfast. 3 guests stayed the night, being the first ever Airbnb guests.

They launched in 2008, with 600 people booking Airbnb’s for the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

In order to fund their startup, they started selling cereals with election themes. They made $30,000, and raised $20,000 in funding from Y Combinator.

Their platform starts to gain traction, after visiting their users in New York.

By 2009, they have 2500 listings and 10,000 registered users. From there on, Airbnb kept growing and growing and now have over 2 million listings in over 190 countries, and the company is now worth $25.5 billion.

Airbnb is an incredible story of startup success, from having barely enough money to fund their company and having to sell cereal, to being worth over $25.5 billion, Chesky and Gebbia’s journey is something else. Airbnb continues to grow to this day, and is a household name which is globally recognized no matter where you are in the world.

Uber is an app that is globally recognized and used by millions. It provided an alternative to using expensive taxis, and provided high service for customers. Furthermore, it provided jobs for those looking for extra cash or wanting to try something different. Uber spawned a variety of similar but different ride sharing apps, and essentially created a whole new industry. From Uber came Uber Eats, Menulog and so on. But how did it all get started, before all of this?

It started when Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick were in Paris and unable to find a cab. When Camp returned to San Francisco, he was fixated on the idea of a ride sharing app and subsequently bought UberCab.com. Camp was the CEO of StumbleUpon (bought out by Ebay for $75 million) and started working on Uber as a side project. Camp persuaded Kalanick to join in on the project. Uber was tested in New York using 3 cars, then officially launched in San Francisco. The ease of access to a ride share gave the app much popularity, using GPS to locate the car and rider then charging the rider.

The company received $1.25 million in funding from First Round Capital.

In 2011, Uber raised $11 million in its Series A round of funding, allowing to expand into New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago and Washington DC.

The company broadened in 2012 by introducing UberX, provided less expensive hybrid cars in contrast to expensive black car services.

The story of Uber is one of a startup success built on a demand, being ride sharing. Many people were not happy with prices and the service within the Taxi industry, and Uber filled that need for them, ultimately bringing them recognition and large success globally.