25 Founder Stories for Case Studies
As a founder, it is helpful to have inspiration and stories that show persistence pays off. So it was nice to find some timelines that chronicle the ups and downs of founding a startup.
How Airbnb Started https://blog.adioma.com/how-airbnb-started-infographic/
How Angry Birds Started https://blog.adioma.com/how-angry-birds-started-infographic/
How Instagram Started https://blog.adioma.com/how-instagram-started-infographic/
How Pinterest Started https://blog.adioma.com/how-pinterest-started-infographic/
How Twitter Started https://blog.adioma.com/how-twitter-started-infographic/
How Yahoo Started https://blog.adioma.com/how-yahoo-started-infographic/
Unfortunately, these examples all have male founders, so I reached out to Anna Vital, founder of Adioma, who created the useful tools that were used to generate those company timelines and other infographics.
We would love timelines for at least six of the companies below to tell their great startup stories. It would be a great way to balance the role models and share insights into the persistence these women founders demonstrated. If you would like to work with us to help research, interview, and visualize more startup journeys, or can make a warm intro to the folks below (or to others we should shine a spotlight on), please reach out to us at witi@berkeley.edu. Let’s see what we can do.
Bonus — if you are looking for startup stories to share in classes and business schools — these founder stories are a great place to start and we have saved you some time by finding a few links about the (female) founders and their startup journey below. Please use them and join the mission to make business school cases more diverse!
How 23andMe Started — Anne Wojcicki (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How ActOne Group Started — Janice Bryant Howroyd (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Bumble Started — Whitney Wolfe Herd (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)
How CISCO Started — Sandy Lerner (LinkedIn/Bio Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)
How Cloudflare Started — Michelle Zatlyn (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Eight Started — Alexandra Zatarain (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Eventbrite Started — Julia Hartz (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Flickr Started — Caterina Fake (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Glossier Started — Emily Weiss (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Houzz Started — Adi Tatarko (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)
How Lynda.com Started — Lynda Weinman (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)
How Madison Reed Started — Amy Errett (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Maker’s Row Started — Tanya Menendez (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Marvell Started — Weili Dai (LinkedIn/bio Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Medalia Started — Amy Pressman (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)
How Nextdoor Started — Sarah Leary (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How NewMe Started — Angela Benton (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Ning, Mighty Networks Started — Gina Bianchini (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Rent the Runway Started — Jennifer Hyman (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Siebel Systems Started — Patricia House (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How VMware Started — Diane Greene (LinkedIn/bio Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)
How Popvox Started — Marci Harris (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Quanergy Systems Started — Tianyue Yu (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2)
How Spanx Started — Sara Blakely (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)
How Y Combinator Started — Jessica Livingston (LinkedIn Wikipedia Founding Story 1, 2, 3)