11 outrageous ideas that made people ridiculously rich

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Some entrepreneurs have struck gold with their quirky, kitschy ideas for products, toys, websites and more.
While fads like Beanie Babies and Furby come and go, if the timing is right, there can be serious money to be made off of a pop culture moment.
Here are 11 ideas that made some people ridiculously rich.

Lots of people have million-dollar ideas, but people rarely act on them. Mistakes, too, can sometimes even mean millions — if the timing is right.

For entrepreneurs, one good idea can prove extraordinarily fruitful — even if it’s as silly as something like the Snuggie. The Slinky, for example, was born after a naval engineer made a clumsy mistake; meanwhile, the infamous Furby was crafted after its creator was introduced to Tamagotchis, and felt an overwhelming urge to pet it.

Check out some other ideas that left people with millions.

Beanie Babies, created by Ty Warner in 1993, were the plush, bean-filled toy fad of the 90s. Warner’s Ty Inc. reportedly made $700 million in one year, selling the Beanies for $5 a piece. By 1999, the company had over $1 billion in sales.

AP/Peter Barreras

Warner made the decision to not sell the toys at nationwide chains like Toys-R-Us and Walmart, driving up the market at small, independent stores, creating a craze. Some stores even received instructions from Ty Inc. not to sell more than a certain amount to one customer. Beanies began going up on the resale market — many with five-figure asking prices.

Since its creation, it is estimated Beanie Babies were able to bring in nearly $6 billion for Warner.

Today, Warner has a net worth of over $2 billion.

Source: The New York Times, The New York Times, Forbes

Alex Tew had the idea for The Million Dollar Homepage when he was a 21-year-old college kid. He would sell 1 million pixels for $1 a piece in advertising space. The profit? You guessed it.

The Million Dollar Homepage

Million Dollar Homepage "sold out" just 4 months after it went up in 2005. It all came about because Tew was interested in making money while also attending Nottingham University in England. And after the site began to gain media attention and all ad space was bought up, he dropped out and began his career as a serial entrepreneur.

He has since gone on to co-found the newly billion-dollar unicorn startup and meditation app, Calm.

Source: BBC News, Business Insider

What if you could wear a blanket? Scott Boilen, president of Allstar Products, had the same idea, resulting in the Snuggie. Since 2008, over 30 million Snuggies have been sold, raking in over $500 million.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Many people remember the silly commercials in the early aughts for Snuggies: a family at a sports game, all wrapped in blue Snuggies, surrounded by others bundled up in coats, beanies and scarves, cheering, arms raised.

But some others remember the Slanket, which appeared on the shopping channel QVC and airline publication SkyMall years before the Snuggie.

“We had seen products like these in catalogs for a while — even before the Slanket came out, I think,” said Boilen to The New York Times in 2009. “And we thought if we could put a clever commercial behind it and offer it at a better value price, then people would buy it.”

And clearly, it worked.

Source: CNBC, The New York Times

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Source: Business Insider – mgebel@businessinsider.com (Meira Gebel)