# Unconventional and clever ways people got rich **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524 "2013-01-27T09:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andrew\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@andrew\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrew_1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/1 "2013-01-27T09:06:12Z")
Bit of a vague title so let me elaborate: what I’m looking for are interesting stories of people who made serious money in unconventional and clever ways. You can make a case for nearly any millionaire having done that, but I’m looking for things like people who bought up a load of domain names in the 1990s and then made a killing selling them to bigger companies when they came along. That’s the kind of thing I’m hoping we can discuss here. I don’t like to admit it but I’m the kind of guy who can get rather jealous of people who made a lot of money, but something like predicting the internet getting huge and capitalizing on it the way I described above strikes me as so cunning I can’t help but admire it, and I was hoping some of you might know of similar stories throughout history. Another vague example so you have the idea is the occasional stories (myths?) of people who created or invented a product with the possibility of ruining an existing product, and then sold their invention to that company for a massive sum. That’s the kind of thing I’m looking for us to discuss in this thread. There really aren’t any rules to this thread as I don’t want to discourage anyone from replying. Anyone who made around a million bucks or more in a way you would consider both unconventional or strange but also somewhat or completely brilliantly is fair game here, although please refrain from posting what we might call “inevitable” inventions, such as the telephone, which was certainly clever but perhaps not entirely unconventional. If you can think of an invention that satisfies both criteria, post away! And of course, any other plans, schemes and whatnot, noble or nasty, should be posted too. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/2 "2013-01-27T09:10:04Z")
> **[Bernie Madoff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff)** > > Bernard Lawrence Madoff (/ˈmeɪdɔːf/ MAY-dawf; April 29, 1938 – April 14, 2021) was an American financier who was the mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange. Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business. > Madoff founded a penny stock brokerage in 1960, which eventually grew into Bernard L. Madof... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/3 "2013-01-27T12:24:41Z")
[Alan Shawn Feinstein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Feinstein) made most of his money selling novelty stamps to collectors. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/4 "2013-01-27T12:44:54Z")
I’d guess guys who trained at removing tattoos are going to be pretty well off in a few years. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/5 "2013-01-27T12:57:13Z")
You can make money with a do-it-yourself money kit, in the basement, on rainy Sunday afternoons. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/6 "2013-01-27T13:09:26Z")
> [@andrew\_1](#): > > I don’t like to admit it but I’m the kind of guy who can get rather jealous of people who made a lot of money, but something like predicting the internet getting huge and capitalizing on it the way I described above strikes me as so cunning I can’t help but admire it, and I was hoping some of you might know of similar stories throughout history. I’m not sure if many people who did that actually made any real money. Espcially since there seem to be a ton of “make money buying and selling domain names” articles on the web. > [@andrew\_1](#): > > Another vague example so you have the idea is the occasional stories (myths?) of people who created or invented a product with the possibility of ruining an existing product, and then sold their invention to that company for a massive sum. That’s the kind of thing I’m looking for us to discuss in this thread. Not really sure what you mean by this. There are certainly plenty of cases of “disruptive technologies”. But usually they become successful business and the industries they disrupt just sort of adapt or whither away on their own. > [@andrew\_1](#): > > There really aren’t any rules to this thread as I don’t want to discourage anyone from replying. Anyone who made around a million bucks or more in a way you would consider both unconventional or strange but also somewhat or completely brilliantly is fair game here, although please refrain from posting what we might call “inevitable” inventions, such as the telephone, which was certainly clever but perhaps not entirely unconventional. If you can think of an invention that satisfies both criteria, post away! And of course, any other plans, schemes and whatnot, noble or nasty, should be posted too. They only became “inevitable” after someone invented them.😃 It sounds like what you are really looking for are scams, or close to them. Like in the 90s I read about a kid who made a couple hundred thousand buying and selling stock on the internet (a new phenomenon at the time). But he would bombard finance message boards with fake new about the stock to drive the price up and down. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/7 "2013-01-27T14:42:39Z")
Robert Stiller. He’s the founder of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Which, on top of just being a huge coffee company also currently owns the Keurig coffee system (they bought it a few years back). What makes him somewhat unconventional is where he got the money to found the coffee company. Back in 1980 or so, when he was in college he used to watch his friends do the same thing we all did. Take two rolling papers, glue them together and then roll it sideways so you’d have one big one instead of trying to fumble around with that little piece of paper. So he invented the EZ Wider. A bigger, wider rolling paper. He made his first few million dollars doing that. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/8 "2013-01-27T16:49:58Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I’d guess guys who trained at removing tattoos are going to be pretty well off in a few years. I doubt anyone will get rich doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/9 "2013-01-27T17:06:46Z")
How about [Hamdi Ulukaya](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdi_Ulukaya)? I doubt that you’ve heard of him, but he’s the guy behind [Chobani](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chobani) brand Greek-style yogurt. He started the company less than eight years ago, after buying a closed Kraft yogurt plant and now has the number-one yogurt brand in America. It outsells Yoplait and Dannon and other brands. (My prediction is that he’s going to be bought out sooner or later by Groupe Danone or Kraft.) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/10 "2013-01-27T17:13:49Z")
I have to hand it to people who mad money selling “important” WWW domains back in the early days of the Web. They saw what was about to happen and figured out and easy way to make a buck off it. I was active on USENET in the early 90s and I remember people talking about doing it and i never bothered to take the time to look into doing it myself. These days people can either sue or work around it but back in the 90s many companies just paid those guys off. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/11 "2013-01-27T17:55:02Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > I doubt anyone will get rich doing it. Well, maybe some doctor or engineer will if they develop a better/faster/cheaper/less painful way of doing it. Edit: Hey, anyone want to invest in my research into a better/faster/cheaper/less painful way of removing tattoos? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/12 "2013-01-27T18:03:41Z")
I think the story of [Duck Commander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Commander) is kind of unconventional. Star college quarterback turns down the NFL in favor of duck hunting season. Develops some sort of new way to make a duck call. Yadda yadda millionaire. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/13 "2013-01-27T18:26:53Z")
Real estate. I know a guy who became a multi-millionaire. He bought decrepit old houses in the South End of Boston. In the late 1970’s the area was a crime ridden slum-he had faith, and bought several 3 story “brownstone” townhouses, and renovated them-he paid about $20,000 each. Today, they are worth over $1.5 million each. But he had to wait almost 20 years for his investment to pay off. Could you do the same in a city like Detroit? The risks are huge, but the payoff could be huge. Buy all kinds of stuff that is out of fashion…and wait. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/14 "2013-01-27T18:51:45Z")
The guy who came up with Pet Rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/15 "2013-01-27T19:34:05Z")
Charles Saatchi, advertising mogul, made tons of money buying and selling modern art. One example: - In 1991 he bought a frozen sculpture of Marc Quinn’s head filled with 9 pints of the artist’s blood, for $22,000, then sold it in 2005 for $2.7 million, according to the Guardian\* source: [Forbes.com](http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1228/smart-collecting-chapman-hirst-art-of-being-charles-saatchi.html). side note: I actually saw that sculpture when it was in the Saatchi Gallery. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/16 "2013-01-27T19:38:30Z")
There was the [guy who made a million dollars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage) by selling a million individual pixels on his homepage for 1 dollar each. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/17 "2013-01-27T20:14:02Z")
Well, he didn’t make money per se, but he was very clever, and definitely came out ahead: [http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/](http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/18 "2013-01-27T21:44:24Z")
Not exactly rich (he only got $200,000 in 1971), but [D.B. Cooper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper) did manage to hijack a plane, collect his ransom, and get away. Unless he, you know, died when he jumped out of the plane. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/19 "2013-01-27T21:50:59Z")
Bill Gates made billions founding a firm that specialized in software at a time (1975) when the conventional wisdom was that you could only make money in computers by focusing on hardware. Nobody thought that oil refining could be a national business, not until John D. Rockefeller came along. The conventional wisdom at the time was that oil production is where the money was, then transportation. Refining was almost an afterthought, being comprised of extremely small firms with meager output. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/20 "2013-01-27T22:42:32Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Well, maybe some doctor or engineer will if they develop a better/faster/cheaper/less painful way of doing it. > > Edit: Hey, anyone want to invest in my research into a better/faster/cheaper/less painful way of removing tattoos? 😃 OK, that was funny. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524.md?page=2)