Sara Blakely

Current Company

Spanx — Founder

Five Thousand Dollars and a Patent

Sara Blakely founded Spanx in 2000 with $5,000 in personal savings, no business training, and an idea she couldn’t get any manufacturer to take seriously. Sara Blakely, a former door-to-door fax machine salesperson, spent two years developing her first product — footless pantyhose — researching patents on her own and cold-calling hosiery mills until one agreed to produce a prototype. She ran every aspect of the business herself, from packaging design to retail pitches, for years without outside investment.

Sara Blakely grew Spanx into a billion-dollar brand through word-of-mouth, strategic retail placements, and an Oprah Winfrey endorsement that catapulted the product into mainstream awareness. What made Sara Blakely’s story remarkable was not just the outcome but the process: she proved that a founder with no industry experience, no funding, and no connections could build a globally recognized brand through pure persistence and an intimate understanding of her customer.

The Blackstone Deal and Beyond

In 2021, Sara Blakely sold a majority stake in Spanx to Blackstone in a deal that valued the company at $1.2 billion. Sara Blakely celebrated by giving every employee two first-class plane tickets and $10,000 in spending money — a gesture that went viral and reinforced her reputation as a founder who genuinely cared about the people who helped build the company.

Sara Blakely’s impact extends well beyond Spanx. She was the youngest self-made female billionaire when she first appeared on the Forbes list, and she has since committed to giving away the majority of her wealth through The Giving Pledge. Sara Blakely’s foundation focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs, and she has become one of the most visible advocates for female founders in the business world.