“Starve yourself. Don’t take the money. Do it yourself. I recommend a diet of ramen noodles and very little sleep. If you don’t love your business, someone else will love it more than you, and do it better and be more creative.”
–Robert Stephens, Geek Squad founder and Chief Inspector, on his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in the Wall Street Journal. In 1994, Stephens dropped out of school, and with $200, he turned his side job fixing PCs into the Geek Squad–sending employees in nerdy attire to rescue tech-addled customers. Fast forward eight years: Geek Squad was acquired by Best Buy for $3 million. Now there are 20,000 employees in 1,038 Best Buy stores, plus seven stand-alone Geek Squad storefronts. Says Stephens, “I have an irrational love of technology. I don’t care how much I get paid.” –Jessica Shambora