Many of us have been in a situation where we’ve thought of a bright idea, only to turn to our friend and say, “Imagine if we started a shop that sold glow-in-the-dark ice cream.” Sometimes, those ideas aren’t exactly feasible, but other times, they could be the start of a globally groundbreaking concept.
Startups in diverse fields, from classic tech companies to online casinos offering free SC coins and more, typically come from humble beginnings in a tiny garage setting and struggle to get funding. However, a handful of them make it past those challenging stages and go on to become a household name for their entire product or service category. Whether stemming from lucrative concepts, serious hard work, or hitting the market at the perfect time, the following startups managed to find massive success in under a decade.
Airbnb
“Let’s Airbnb our guesthouse for the month,” or “Should we just Airbnb?” These phrases are very familiar to those who book or host on Airbnb, a site for travelers to find a place to stay and hosts to offer their spaces. The company effectively revolutionized where and how travelers looked for accommodation, providing unique lodging experiences and stays at a variety of price points. People could now enjoy a peer-to-peer model that broke free of the traditional hotel industry mold and let everyday people take the reins rather than the big corporations.
Over time, Airbnb has continued to grow and expand its offerings aggressively, introducing Airbnb Experiences for activities hosted by locals and Airbnb Adventures for immersive off-the-beaten-path expeditions.
Uber
Uber was the first official ridesharing app that paved the way for other companies like Lyft. At one point, it was considered the most valuable startup in the world. Like almost all brilliant startup concepts, it was born out of a need. When Uber’s founders couldn’t get a ride one cold winter night, they dreamed about the idea of ordering a ride from their phones—and voilà, the company was born. After filling out your pick-up and drop-off addresses, the app will give you a list of ride options to request in one tap.
While Uber is primarily known for its ride-hailing services, the company expanded to include food delivery and courier services. As anyone can sign up as a driver or deliverer, this created many new opportunities for people to become gig workers and contribute to their community.
Beyond Meat
The idea of “plant-based” has never been more widespread than it is now—just walk into any major grocery store, and you’ll see all sorts of plant-based meat substitutes, cheese substitutes, and milk alternatives to choose from. One of those initial companies that saw a gap in the market was Beyond Meat, a company that has now launched a variety of plant-based meat products, including their famous Beyond Burger—a beef burger substitute that “bleeds” with red beetroot juice. Their products became so beloved by the public that restaurants and cafés began using them in their dishes. While Beyond Meat’s goal was to combat climate change, they also inherently encouraged other companies to launch their own plant-based products and consumers to reduce their consumption of animal products.
Zoom
Although Zoom was launched in 2011, it wasn’t until the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic that it exploded into a cultural phenomenon. Remote work became extremely commonplace, so the Zoom platform was an easy and effective solution for meetings and workplace events. Many companies immediately jumped on the opportunity to take advantage of features like large-scale group video conferences, one-on-one meetings, screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, and more. Zoom has since added other tools, like Zoom Phone, OnZoom for live conference events, a virtual receptionist, and integrations with apps like Asana and SurveyMonkey.
Slack
Slack is another work-based startup designed to make communication between co-workers easy. What was once a small-scale internal communication tool for a company called Tiny Speck boomed into a full-on product, Slack, which stands for Searchable Log of All Conversations and Knowledge. Not only does the platform provide a way for co-workers to message each other in real-time, but it also lets them share files and data and keep them all in one place as a central hub—hence the app’s full name.
There are a bunch of workplace chat tools out there, but the reason why Slack seems to conquer most is because of its customization, scalability, and integration with many other common company tools. Like Zoom, Slack’s usage surged during the pandemic, adding to the ease of remote communication.
TikTok
While some of these companies on the list took a few years to gain traction, it only took TikTok a year to garner 100 million users. To call the app’s success explosive is an understatement, as it perfectly catered to a generation of people who craved a space to satisfy their short attention spans and need for instant entertainment. Users can hop on the app and scroll infinitely, consuming a variety of content and getting sucked in for hours at a time.
TikTok changed the public’s idea of social media, as there wasn’t so much a focus on making friends but providing users with a relevant and personalized feed of video content that they can’t get enough of. Along with the viral TikTok dances and funny memes, the platform has such an intense cultural influence that news spreads like wildfire, products become new sensations, and trends get picked up globally.
