Founders Who Turned Side Projects into Their Main Businesses

A side project becomes a business when somebody has to make room for it: leaving a job, reducing freelance work, stepping away from studies or changing a company's direction. These founders offer different versions of that transition. Start with Sara Blakely or Ben Francis for products developed alongside paid work, Craig Newmark for a community that grew slowly, or Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson for two perspectives on the same agency's move into software. The selection includes internal company projects as well as personal ventures. Savings, family help, professional access and investors all appear, because the practical support behind a leap matters as much as the idea.