Back in 1976, three men got together – Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne – and formed a company to sell hand-made computer kits. That kit was the Apple I computer and in its first year of operation Apple’s sales reached a mere $174,000 (around £87,000 based on 1976 rates of exchange). At that stage – in the thoroughly pre-digital mid-1970s – it wasn’t clear that there would even be a market for such a product and the company could easily have folded. But just four years later sales had risen to $117m and the Apple company had floated at $22 a share – the rest, of course, is history.
Naturally, most companies aren’t going to become Apple-type success stories. But a tiny number will and we’ve put together a portfolio of companies that we think have the potential, at least, to make it big. First, however, a health warning: these companies aren’t for widows and orphans. The risks are huge. While their unique characteristics may well lay the foundations for huge success stories, they usually have little in the way of a ‘plan B’.
Spotting winners