Apple

The Apple I remains the most iconic side-hustle origin story on this list, starting as Steve Wozniak's hobby project for his computer club and evolving into a $3 trillion empire with Steve Jobs' salesmanship. Assembled in a Los Altos garage in 1976, the first 200 units sold at $666.66 each, generating $133,332 in initial revenue. Unlike Spanx and Under Armour, which began with single products aimed at niche markets, Apple's early personal computer directly created the consumer electronics category. This explains why Amazon took 4 years to reach its first $1 million, while Apple hit $1 million in sales within its first year. The hand-built circuit boards were crude, but the vision disrupted mainframe computing.