No one believed this man. He once made a living by selling his own blood, but in the end, he created a $100 billion business empire. Over 200 investors rejected his idea, missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Here is his bizarre story (and what you can learn from it): 🧵

Howard Schultz was born in a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a truck driver. One day, his father had an accident and broke his hip, resulting in losing his job. Suddenly, there was no source of income for the family, and life fell into extreme hardship...

Howard found it hard to accept this reality. He clearly remembers his father lying on the sofa, looking dejected, with a dull gaze. That moment became the most important turning point in his life. He chose not to succumb to despair but instead transformed this memory into motivation for his future struggles.

Howard came from a poor family and could not afford college tuition at all. He had to rely on student loans to attend school, work odd jobs everywhere, and even sell his own blood to make ends meet. But he always had a dream in his heart: to work at Starbucks (at that time, Starbucks only sold coffee beans). After a whole year of hard persuasion, the boss finally agreed to hire him.

In 1983, Howard took a trip to Italy. There, he was deeply captivated by the local coffee culture. Espresso bars were seen as a third space between work and home. Howard wanted to bring this concept back to Starbucks, but the owner refused. So he chose to resign and started his own coffee shop called Il Giornale.

But the problem arose: He didn't have startup capital. So he began looking for investors. He visited 242 investors and was rejected by 217 of them. Even Italy's largest coffee company, Lavazza, said "no" to him.

Fortunately, there were still a few investors who believed in his dream and were willing to fund it. After two years of fundraising efforts, Il Giornale was finally born. At first, the company's operations were very difficult, but gradually it got on the right track.

At that moment, Starbucks was in trouble, nearly going bankrupt. So the original owner proposed to sell 6 Starbucks stores to Howard for $3.8 million. At that time, Howard didn't have that much money on hand and urgently needed financing. But worse, one of the investors actually wanted to secretly take this opportunity away.

A friend of Howard's is a lawyer at the law firm where Bill Gates' father works. He arranged for Howard to meet Bill Gates and share his story. After hearing his account, old Gates took Howard for a walk...

They walked into a nearby building together and took the elevator to the top floor. Howard, sweating profusely and looking confused, asked old Gates, "Where are we going?" Old Gates replied, "My son and I will help you." And so, Bill Gates helped Howard Schultz secure Starbucks.

Under Howard's vision, Starbucks has achieved leapfrog development. From 6 stores in 1987, it has expanded to 30,000 stores worldwide by 2024. Today, Starbucks has a market value of $111 billion. All of this stems from his refusal to give up after being rejected by countless people.

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