FedEx

Started at: Yale University
When: 1966

During his undergraduate years at Yale in the 1960s, Fred Smith wrote a paper. In that essay, which argued global demand for products was increasing too fast for conventional delivery methods of the time, he essentially laid out the plan for FedEx, a company that would revolutionize the parcel business. Legend has it, Smith's professor gave his paper a "C," though he held onto the idea for five years until 1971, when he founded Federal Express as an air freight company. FedEx began overnight operations two years later, delivering 18 packages in its first evening, and with help from venture capital funding was able to transform into the most powerful name in shipping today.

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