This guy was the richest man on Earth from '87 to '94. But by 2000 he lost 75% of his money. By 2016, he had lost 95%. Here's the story of Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, the "dictator" who owned a sixth of Japan: 🧵

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You don't need to sacrifice family for success. Sara built Spanx over 21 years and never missed a family dinner. Lesson: make everything bigger than yourself, embrace failure, and never forget that business should be joyful.

After building Spanx for over 2 decades without partners, investors, or formal advertising for 15 years. Sara sold the majority stake to Blackstone, and the company she started with $5,000 had become a $1.2 billion brand. But the biggest takeaway from Sara's story?

7) Turn everything into a game. Keeping a "fun factor" became Sara's secret power for longevity. She turned almost everything into a game, mobilizing teams through joy rather than pressure. Her takeaway:. "Reject the notion that serious means joyless."

6) Make your mission bigger than yourself. Sara made everything about supporting women, drawing courage from representing mothers, and women who never had her opportunities. If you make your mission bigger than yourself, you'll find endless courage.

She'd seen herself on stage clearly but didn't know what they'd be discussing. So she spent the next decade "filling in the blanks.". Then when the moment came, Sara was ready. But Sara's next principle gave her the motivation to persevere until her big moment came ↓.

5) Visualize your success, then fill in the blanks. Everything changed when Oprah chose Spanx as her favorite product of the year. For an entrepreneur with no advertising budget, this was worth millions. But the crazy part?. Sara had visualized being on Oprah since university:

4) Keep your day job until you can afford the risk. Sara spent 2 years working nights and weekends building Spanx, while keeping her sales job. She had $5,000 she felt comfortable spending and refused to take more risk.

Two years later, while getting dressed for a party, Sara cut the feet out of control-top pantyhose to wear under white trousers. Many women were doing this. But Sara recognized it as the big idea she'd asked for. So unlike the rest, she was ready to act.

3) Know your "why" before your "what". Sara knew she was good at sales. But why?. She "loved giving people something they didn't know they needed." This insight led her to pursue inventing products. Then she asked the universe to give her a big idea ↓

2) Make wild choices to find your path. Sara's path to starting Spanx was messy:.• She auditioned to be Goofy at Disney World.• Spent 7 years selling fax machines.• Got kicked out of businesses. But then she got real about her "why".

1) Embrace failure as your teacher. As a kid at dinner, if Sara hadn't failed that day, her dad would be disappointed with her. His philosophy:. "Failure isn't about the result. It's about not trying.". This mindset became Sara's weapon when everyone said Spanx would fail.

Sara Blakely turned $5,000 into a $1.2 billion business while never missing a family dinner. Here's how she built Spanx using 7 unconventional principles that most entrepreneurs ignore:

business idea:

Bill Ackman simultaneously lost $4 billion, divorced his wife and nearly lost his company. Here’s the unbelievable true story of money, power and a phone call…. In 2014, Bill’s hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. made a significant investment in Valeant

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Now in 2025, whispers of the Switch 2 are building. Expected at $400, backwards compatible with all original Switch games. Nintendo sits on a $5B cash pile with zero debt. The Wii U's $400M loss? A blip compared to the Switch's $30B+ lifetime revenue.

Iwata's philosophy lived on: "Fun over raw power". The Switch didn't need 4K graphics. 800p handheld and 1080p docked was enough. Game developers loved it—indies flooded the platform with 5,000+ titles by 2023. Nintendo's stock rose 300% since 2016, reaching a $70B market cap.

By 2023, Nintendo was generating $13B in annual revenue with $1.7B in profit. The Wii U disaster? A distant memory. While Sony and Microsoft battled over $500 living room consoles, Nintendo dominated a market they created.

The Nintendo Switch became the perfect gaming device:. • Dock it for TV play.• Take it anywhere.• Play with friends instantly. 10M units sold by Christmas 2017 50M by 2019 141M by 2025. Games like Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros generated $1B+ each.