# Things that started out very, very small and became HUGE **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636 "2010-06-02T13:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/81 "2010-06-08T14:39:10Z")
> [@snoopygal](#): > > Before he became ruler of the Soviet Union, Stalin spent many years not existing. And afterward, many, many _other_ people started not existing. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/82 "2010-06-08T14:50:08Z")
Nokia started as a Finnish company that made galoshes and rain coats. Now they are a world famous cellular company. ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/83 "2010-06-08T17:42:23Z")
The first NYC marathon had 127 runners and there was a $1 entry fee. I’m not sure if that is very, very small, but it seems pretty small to me when you compare it to what it is today. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/84 "2010-06-08T17:58:34Z")
Me. Originally I was just two cells, all alone in a uterus. But look at me now! ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/85 "2010-06-08T18:40:22Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Me. > > Originally I was just two cells, all alone in a uterus. But look at me now! As best as I can tell you’re just some pixels on a monitor. More impressive than two cells to be sure, but lets not blow things out of proportion. 🙂 I think Microsoft counts. Bought DOS for about 40,000 grand and turned themselves into am industry leader. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/86 "2010-06-08T19:22:17Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Nokia started as a Finnish company that made galoshes and rain coats. Now they are a world famous cellular company. Nintendo started as a Japanese playing card company. 84 years later, they entered the video game market and by 1986 they had revolutionized arcade video games and home gaming consoles. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/87 "2010-06-08T22:29:50Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > For that matter, the character of Jack Shepard was originally supposed to die in the first episode. As was the character of Carol Hathaway, in _ER_, but audiences liked her, so she stuck around, had the central romance of the show in its heyday and Julianna Margulies won an Emmy and six SAG awards for the role. Also starting small and becoming huge: IKEA. It started as the one man business of a 17 year old in the middle of World War II. That 17 year old is now one of the (if not the absolute) richest people in the world, and there are IKEA stores in 25 nations. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/88 "2010-07-20T13:45:57Z")
Bumping my own thread with a menton of Hannibal Lechter. The guy was a minor character in Red Dragon. It was only with Silence of the Lambs and especially the movie that he became a pop culture icon. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/89 "2010-07-20T14:08:11Z")
Basically, everything that ever became huge. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/90 "2010-07-20T14:14:43Z")
Pixar. Originally a small studio that sold computer hardware, that allowed tiny bits of animation in order to move their product. Now… well, Pixar. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/91 "2010-07-20T14:42:48Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I’ll throw out the word “OK.” It started as a joke - an 1830’s version of l33t-speak - in a few papers in the northeast US. Now it transcends English - it’s one of the most understood words on the planet. I bet the people who discovered the Jochimtaler mine never would have guessed that the name would eventually become the word for US money. Robert Crumb sold the first issue of Zap out of a baby buggy while standing at the corner of Haight and Ashbury. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/92 "2010-07-20T15:01:51Z")
The world of comic books is full of stories like these. Couple of examples: **The Tick**. A guy named Ben Edlund used to doodle The Tick in the margins of the monthly newsletter from New England Comics, a Massachusetts comic book warehouse. He became a sort of secondary mascot (the primary mascot was a hairy-armed apelike thing), and people liked him, so NEC let Edlund sketch out a three-page Tick story for the newsletter one month. It was popular enough that NEC decided to actually publish a full comic of The Tick on their own, the first comic book title they’d ever actually published. From the first limited print runs, the books ran through nine printings, spawned an animated TV series, a live-action TV series, various merchandising such as action figures and clothes, and even a couple of fast-food giveaways. Not too shabby for a little doodle. The Goliath of them all has to be **Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles**. Self-published by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, funded by a tax refund and a loan from an uncle, the first issue of TMNT consisted of 3,000 black-and-white issues on cheap, oversized newsprint. Without coming right out and saying it, Eastman and Laird tied the Turtles’ origin into the origin of well-known comic hero **Daredevil**. The ad they placed in the Comic Buyer’s Guide paid off; ninjas were hot, and soon the Turtles were so popular, they inspired parody comics, few of which ran more than one issue. Some titles I remember were: Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters, Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos, Colossal Nuclear Samurai Bambino Snails, and (my favorite) Geriatric Gangrene Ju-Jitsu Gerbils. The Turtles shot past parody into animated TV shows (three series so far), blockbuster movies, toys, video games, party decor, clothes, and whatever else you can imagine. On the way, the Turtles transitioned from their gritty beginnings to a more kid-friendly version, bumping profits from the billions into the squillions. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/93 "2010-07-20T19:19:07Z")
My daughters and I met Stephenie Meyer when she visited our local bookstore to promote her second book in the “Twilight” series. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/94 "2010-07-20T19:39:38Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > Hello Kitty paraphernalia went from being available only in upscale department stores and specialty shops to being friggin’ everywhere, including on waffle irons. And you know what? Kitty-shaped waffles are awful damn tasty. I do think the popcorn popper and the cereal dispenser are a bit much, though. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/95 "2010-07-20T19:41:27Z")
Started small, became damned-near forgotten, now is considered the one of the (if not THE) greatest composer of all time. ETA: What do I win? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/96 "2010-07-20T19:43:14Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > And you know what? Kitty-shaped waffles are awful damn tasty. I do think the popcorn popper and the cereal dispenser are a bit much, though. And the vibrator is way out in left field… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636.md?page=4)