Building a BusinessFounders

The Ice King

A man shipped New England ice to the tropics and everyone laughed

In 1806, a young Bostonian shipped frozen pond water to the Caribbean. The newspaper laughed. He went broke, then got rich.

You'll find out

  • Why the first ship's ice melted
  • What a sawmill had to do with it
  • How far the ice finally went

Why it matters

Many great businesses look like jokes at first, because the market for them doesn't exist yet.

About 3 min6 interactive slides · 5 questionsLesson 27 · Zone 3

Play this lesson

Free to play in your browser or on iPhone

More in this zone

  1. 19Business BasicsRevenue Isn't ProfitWhat comes in minus what goes out
  2. 20StartupsNine Out of Ten Fail in Year OneUS data says about four in five new businesses survive their first year
  3. 21Unit EconomicsMargin: What You Keep From Each SalePrice minus cost, one item at a time
  4. 22Unit EconomicsThe Break-Even PointThe sale where you stop losing money
  5. 23Side HustlesYour Side-Hustle MathWhat your idea really pays per hour
  6. 24PersistenceThree Feet from GoldThe story goes that a miner quit and sold his rig, and the buyer struck the vein three feet further down
  7. 25RegretRegret Runs BackwardsIn the long run, people regret what they didn't try
  8. 26Business StructuresWhy Founders Form an LLCA wall between the business and your house