$5000 turns into a whopping $1Billion
A topless entrepreneur becomes a billionaire, with very little investment money

NEWS LETTER | FROM THE MANS DEN | BY MICHAEL LALIBERTE
 
A Billionaires’ set of ‘Brains’ 
Sara Blakely stands topless at a conference room table. It’s Monday morning at the Spanx headquarters in Atlanta and the founder of the hosiery company has been in a product development meeting for all of five minutes before walking out abruptly.  She returns a minute later in nothing but a lacy taupe bra with pants and beige wedges and adjust her-self in a full-length mirror, worrying aloud about the metal clasps on this early prototype. 

A CEO made the company ‘Soar’ 
Her CEO, Laurie Ann Goldman, petite and glamorous in a leopard print shift dress tugs on Blakely’s straps. She makes the conference room look like a boudoir designed by Willy Wonka; a jar of gum balls here, a loud hound’s tooth print there.  Blakely hardly blinks in the presence of five colleagues as she removes the bra and tries on a second prototype. She has been getting half-naked in public for the past decade. Today Spanx is to slimming undergarments what Kleenex is to tissues: a brand that stands for the category. It nets an estimated 20% in revenue just south of $250 million. In recent months four Wall Street investment banks separately valued Spanx at an average $ 1billion, Blakely owns 100% of the private company that started with $5000. Okay guys let’s get rich by displaying our own under-wares.