Ben & Jerry ice creams : Failures in life → $500M+ global ice cream empire

Scan time: 2-3 minutes / Read time: 4-5 minutes

Hey rebel solopreneurs 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️

You think you're not qualified enough to create something meaningful.

That voice in your head whispers, "Who am I to start this? Everyone else seems more prepared, more experienced, more legitimate."

Here's the truth: that imposter syndrome you're battling might actually be your biggest advantage.

Meet Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield - two self-proclaimed failures who felt completely unqualified and ashamed of their lack of achievements, yet built Ben & Jerry's into a $500 million empire by embracing exactly what made them feel like imposters.

But first, let me tell you about two fat kids who couldn't even run a lap...

🧘‍♂️ When being last becomes first

Picture this: two overweight kids dead last in gym class, huffing and puffing around the track.

That's how Ben and Jerry met - bonding over being the slowest, most out-of-shape kids in school.

"We were both fat kids," Ben laughs.

"We met in the gym... We were in the last place."

While other kids were competing to win, these two were just trying not to collapse.

Sound familiar?

That feeling of being behind everyone else?

They stayed friends through high school, then went separate ways to continue their spectacular failure streak.

Jerry?

Rejected from medical school.

Twice.

Can you imagine that crushing blow to your confidence?

Ben?

Dropped out of every single college he tried - Colgate, Skidmore, NYU, even the most unstructured program in America.

By their mid-twenties, both felt like complete washouts.

The kind of people you avoid at high school reunions.

But wait - it gets better!

But sometimes hitting rock bottom is exactly where you need to be...

🧩 Rock bottom has excellent Wi-Fi

Fast forward a few years.

Both guys were broke, directionless, and honestly?

Pretty ashamed.

Jerry was stuck as a lab technician after his second medical school rejection.

Talk about a confidence killer.

Ben was ping-ponging between random gigs - McDonald's cashier, taxi driver, pottery teacher.

His handmade pots?

Nobody wanted them.

You know that internal voice, right?

"Everyone from high school has their life figured out while I'm still fumbling around like an idiot."

They both heard it.

Loud and clear.

Then Jerry showed up at Ben's tiny, grimy New York apartment.

Two "failures" reunited.

Can you picture them sitting there, wondering what the hell they were doing with their lives?

That's when something magical happened.

Instead of wallowing, they decided to try something completely different.

Plot twist: sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to find your launching pad.

That's when they made a decision that changed everything...

🎪 Five bucks and a dream

Two "failures" sitting in a cramped apartment, trying to figure out their next move.

They wanted to start a food business because, well, they liked to eat.

(Relatable, right?)

First idea?

Bagels.

But when they priced out the equipment... nope.

Too expensive.

So they landed on ice cream.

There was just one tiny problem - neither of them knew squat about making it.

Their entire ice cream education?

A $5 correspondence course from Penn State.

Five.

Dollars.

While Jerry could grasp the complex textbook (thanks to his failed pre-med background - see how failure pays off?), Ben struggled with all the technical stuff.

But Ben had something else.

Something that seemed like a huge disadvantage.

He had anosmia - basically zero sense of smell.

For an ice cream maker, that sounds like a disaster, doesn't it?

But here's the thing about limitations - they force you to get creative in ways others never consider.

And that "limitation" would soon revolutionize ice cream...

🕵️‍♀️ Clickers, copying, and creative accounting

These guys had zero business experience, so they did what any smart bootstrapper does - they figured it out.

They bought every Small Business Administration pamphlet they could find.

Cost?

15 cents to $3 each.

(Budget shopping at its finest!)

When they needed to pick the perfect location in Burlington, Vermont, they got creative.

Picture this: two grown men standing on street corners with handheld clickers, counting every person who walked by.

Click.

Click.

Click.

For hours, they'd count foot traffic at different intersections.

No fancy market research - just good old-fashioned legwork.

Their business plan?

Pure genius.

They found a pizza parlor's business plan and literally crossed out "slice of pizza" everywhere, writing "ice cream cone" instead.

The plan showed they'd lose money (oops!), but they bumped up the sales numbers to make it look profitable for the bank.

Total startup money?

$12,000.

That's $8,000 borrowed plus $4,000 they'd scraped together.

The bank actually said yes.

Sometimes audacity pays off.

But even with their scrappy planning, disaster was coming...

⛳️ When winter almost won

Their first winter was absolutely brutal.

Sales?

Practically nonexistent.

The loan payments?

Impossible to make.

These two "businessmen" were so bad with money they literally had to close the shop one day.

Their sign read: "We're closed because we're trying to figure out what's going on."

No joke.

That actually happened.

Want to know why they were broke?

They were giving away too much ice cream because they loved seeing customers smile.

"When you scoop out a nice, big scoop for a customer, you get this beautiful smile," Jerry explained.

"Ben and I, we wanted to make people happy."

Sweet sentiment.

Terrible business model.

The bank started calling.

Creditors were circling.

Most people would've thrown in the towel and gone back to "real jobs."

Instead, they found a mentor through the Small Business Administration - a retired executive who taught them something brilliant.

Ask for a loan moratorium.

Basically, tell the bank you can't pay right now but will catch up later.

Sounds crazy, right?

But the bank actually agreed.

Sometimes honesty and a solid plan beat desperation and panic.

But their biggest breakthrough was hiding in plain sight...

🌈 When weird becomes wonderful

Remember Ben's complete lack of smell?

The thing that seemed like a massive disadvantage for an ice cream maker?

It forced him to obsess over something completely different - texture.

While every other ice cream company focused on smooth, uniform scoops, Ben kept insisting on massive chunks of chocolate, cookies, and fudge.

Jerry thought the chunks were way too big.

Ben pushed for even bigger ones.

Guess who was right?

People went absolutely crazy for the chunky texture.

It was unlike anything else in the market.

But the real magic wasn't just the ice cream.

Something else was happening.

Their customers started putting Ben & Jerry's bumper stickers on their cars all over Burlington.

No contest, no prizes, no incentive whatsoever.

Why?

Because people genuinely wanted these two lovable underdogs to succeed.

Then came the moment that changed everything.

Time magazine published a cover story that opened with this line: "Ben & Jerry's, in Burlington, Vermont, makes the best ice cream in the world."

Two college dropouts who felt like frauds just got crowned by Time magazine.

But their biggest test was still coming...

🎁 David vs. Goliath with ice cream

By 1984, Pillsbury - the corporate giant behind Häagen-Dazs - felt threatened by these hippie upstarts.

They gave distributors an ultimatum: sell Häagen-Dazs OR Ben & Jerry's, but not both.

Ben and Jerry couldn't afford to fight them in court.

So they did something completely crazy.

They launched the "What's the Doughboy Afraid Of?" campaign, taking on Pillsbury's beloved mascot.

Jerry flew to Minneapolis and picketed Pillsbury headquarters.

One guy.

Hand-lettered sign.

Handing out pamphlets.

They put ads on buses, flew banner planes over sporting events, and placed classified ads in Rolling Stone asking for help fighting "the giant Pillsbury Corporation."

They put a 1-800 number on every pint.

Hundreds of people called nightly, many offering to form "Doughboy buster gangs."

The public rallied.

Media picked up the story.

Big corporation bullying two young hippies?

The narrative wrote itself.

Pillsbury backed down.

🥂 Your turn to build something epic!

Two self-proclaimed "failures" who felt completely unqualified and fraud-like turned their deep sense of inadequacy into a $500 million empire.

Their imposter syndrome became their innovation engine.

Their feelings of being unworthy sparked the authenticity that customers craved.

Your outsider perspective is your superpower - just like Ben and Jerry's complete lack of business credentials forced them to connect with customers as real people instead of polished entrepreneurs, creating loyalty that no marketing budget could buy.

I have a feeling you're about to prove everyone wrong.

Keep zoooming! 🚀🍹

Yours 'anti-hustle' vijay peduru 🦸‍♂️