Lamborghini Started Out as a Tractor Company

Yes, it's true: Lamborghini started out as a tractor company.

In 1948, Ferruccio Lamborghini founded Lamborghini Trattori, a tractor company. He was a mechanic who served in WWII and saw an opportunity to rebuild Italy's agricultural industry. He bought surplus military hardware and repurposed them into affordable tractors.

Because his tractor business was successful and made him wealthy, he was able to purchase luxury cars, including Ferraris.

The legend goes that Ferruccio was frustrated with the clutch of his Ferrari 250 GT, which kept breaking. He took his complaint directly to Enzo Ferrari, who dismissed him as being a simple tractor maker who didn't know how to drive a sports car.

Ferruccio felt insulted, but was determined to prove Enzo wrong. He set out to build his own sports car, with an edge toward superior reliability and comfort. He founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 for this purpose.

Lamborghini is not the only company to undergo a legendary pivot. Below are a few more examples

Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a grocery trading store. Today, they are an electronics and technology giant.
Wrigley was founded by William Wrigley and originally sold soap. He gave out free baking powder to draw in customers, but the baking powder proved more popular than the soap, so he switched to selling baking powder. Later, to boost sales, he began giving away free chewing gum, which once again proved more popular than the baking powder, so he once again pivoted.
Avon was founded by David McConnell and sold books door-to-door. He gave out small perfume samples to give to female customers, and the perfumes proved more popular than the books.
Nokia originally sold paper and rubber boots.
Nintendo originally sold playing cards. Other failed ventures included being a taxi company, a hotel chain, and selling instance rice.
Toyoda (now Toyota) originally sold automatic looms.
Shell was originally an antique store in London.
Tiffany & Co. originally sold stationery and fancy goods.
Colgate originally sold starch, soap, and candles.

I think the real takeaway here is that you just need to start a business. Make money. How much you re-invest that money to expand into something greater is up to you.

Now I just need to figure out how to get to step 1.

-Kairos Anamnesis

Comments? Send me an email! kairosanamnesis@gmail.com