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The surprising first products of these major companies
- When it comes to household name brands such as McDonald's, Colgate, and Nintendo, most of us have a very specific image in our minds. Their products stir up old memories, and it's difficult to imagine a time when those companies didn't sell those goods. More often than not, however, these companies sold different products before branching out into those that we know today. This is not always surprising, of course: it is natural for companies to evolve, and with this their product offering often changes. But there are some companies that end up miles away from where they started out. Check out this gallery to discover the surprising first products of some major companies.
© Getty Images
0 / 29 Fotos
Nintendo
- When Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo in 1889, he had a vision for the company that looked quite different from the electronic gaming company we know and love today.
© Public Domain
1 / 29 Fotos
Nintendo
- The original Nintendo product was related to playing, however. It took the form of hand-painted playing cards, which quickly took Japan by storm.
© Public Domain
2 / 29 Fotos
Lamborghini
- Any fast car fans out there will probably know this one: before Lamborghini Automobili was Lamborghini Automobili, it was Lamborghini Trattori.
© Getty Images
3 / 29 Fotos
Lamborghini
- Founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini just after World War II, the first Lamborghini product on the market was, in fact, a tractor. Some models were pretty sleek, to say the least!
© Public Domain
4 / 29 Fotos
Colgate
- The popular hygiene product company Colgate was founded in 1806. Interestingly, however, it did not sell its now world-famous toothpaste until 1873.
© Getty Images
5 / 29 Fotos
Colgate
- During the intermediate years, the company, which was headed up by its namesake William Colgate, primarily sold soap, candles, and starch.
© Public Domain
6 / 29 Fotos
Tiffany & Co.
- According to the biography on the Tiffany & Co. website, the company got its start as a "stationery and fancy goods store." It was founded in New York City in 1837.
© Public Domain
7 / 29 Fotos
Tiffany & Co.
- Nowadays Tiffany & Co. sells quite a different product, of course. The brand has retained its luxury status, but it is now associated specifically with jewelry instead.
© Getty Images
8 / 29 Fotos
Abercrombie & Fitch
- When David Abercrombie founded his clothing store in 1892, he intended it to be a sporting goods shop and outfitter. After that, the brand went through a number of iterations.
© Public Domain
9 / 29 Fotos
Abercrombie & Fitch
- It was only after Limited Brands bought the company in 1988 that it came to be known for the campus-style clothing it sells to many high school and college/university students today.
© Getty Images
10 / 29 Fotos
Pixar
- Today, the name Pixar is used to refer to the critically and commercially successful animation studio. It is associated with a number of hit films.
© Getty Images
11 / 29 Fotos
Pixar
- Back in the day, however, the first Pixar product was an imaging machine that has since been described as "so powerful that it changed medicine."
© Public Domain
12 / 29 Fotos
Nestlé
- Nowadays a household name thanks to its successful confectionery brands, the first product of Nestlé was actually baby formula.
© Public Domain
13 / 29 Fotos
Nestlé
- Nestlé stopped with its original product when an article appeared in the New Internationalist in 1973 criticizing the company for supposedly getting mothers in developing countries hooked on formula.
© Getty Images
14 / 29 Fotos
Berkshire Hathaway
- Berkshire Hathaway may nowadays be an investment vehicle for business tycoon Warren Buffett, but the company in fact has its roots in the textile industry.
© Public Domain
15 / 29 Fotos
Berkshire Hathaway
- There are two companies behind the modern-day Berkshire Hathaway: Hathaway Manufacturing Company and Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company.
© Getty Images
16 / 29 Fotos
Sony
- The beginnings of Sony seem very unlikely when you think about the successful tech company it is today. Its first product was nothing to do with games consoles; it was, in fact, a rice cooker.
© Getty Images
17 / 29 Fotos
Sony
- The original Sony rice cooker was supposed to fit with the company's vision of selling products suitable for everyday life. A simple product made of wood and aluminum, the rice cooker didn't take off.
© Getty Images
18 / 29 Fotos
Nokia
- Nokia, too, took the scenic route to its final destination as a tech company. It started in Finland in 1865, when Fredrik Idestam opened a pulp mill.
© Getty Images
19 / 29 Fotos
Nokia
- The company started by selling paper products (including toilet paper), before bouncing around a number of industries and eventually landing on phones in the 1960s.
© Getty Images
20 / 29 Fotos
Lego
- An amalgamation and abbreviation of the two Danish words leg godt, Lego means "play well." Lego has always been a toy company, but it didn't start out with plastic bricks.
© Getty Images
21 / 29 Fotos
Lego
- Before Lego morphed into the colorful building block producer we know it as today, the company sold wooden toys that were made in a carpenter's shop.
© Getty Images
22 / 29 Fotos
Marriott International
- Nowadays the name Marriott is associated with hotels all over the world. It didn't start out in the hotel business, however.
© Getty Images
23 / 29 Fotos
Marriott International
- Before Marriott International was Marriott International, it was the Hot Shoppes restaurant chain. In fact, it started out as a franchised A&W Root Beer stand!
© Getty Images
24 / 29 Fotos
Hoover
- For a long time now, the name Hoover has been synonymous with vacuum cleaner. Its product in that vertical was so successful that the brand name entered our vocabulary.
© Getty Images
25 / 29 Fotos
Hoover
- But before it branched out into vacuum clears, Hoover made leather goods. Their best-selling leather product was, funnily enough, a horse collar!
© Getty Images
26 / 29 Fotos
McDonald's
- When Richard and Maurice McDonald founded their famous fast food chain in the 1930s, they started not with burgers, but with hot dogs.
© Getty Images
27 / 29 Fotos
McDonald's
- This is perhaps not so surprising as other examples on this list (hot dogs are fast food too, of course). It is funny, though, that the original product plays no part in the contemporary menu. Sources: (Finance 101) (CNN) See also: These famous companies completely changed their names
© Getty Images
28 / 29 Fotos
The surprising first products of these major companies
- When it comes to household name brands such as McDonald's, Colgate, and Nintendo, most of us have a very specific image in our minds. Their products stir up old memories, and it's difficult to imagine a time when those companies didn't sell those goods. More often than not, however, these companies sold different products before branching out into those that we know today. This is not always surprising, of course: it is natural for companies to evolve, and with this their product offering often changes. But there are some companies that end up miles away from where they started out. Check out this gallery to discover the surprising first products of some major companies.
© Getty Images
0 / 29 Fotos
Nintendo
- When Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo in 1889, he had a vision for the company that looked quite different from the electronic gaming company we know and love today.
© Public Domain
1 / 29 Fotos
Nintendo
- The original Nintendo product was related to playing, however. It took the form of hand-painted playing cards, which quickly took Japan by storm.
© Public Domain
2 / 29 Fotos
Lamborghini
- Any fast car fans out there will probably know this one: before Lamborghini Automobili was Lamborghini Automobili, it was Lamborghini Trattori.
© Getty Images
3 / 29 Fotos
Lamborghini
- Founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini just after World War II, the first Lamborghini product on the market was, in fact, a tractor. Some models were pretty sleek, to say the least!
© Public Domain
4 / 29 Fotos
Colgate
- The popular hygiene product company Colgate was founded in 1806. Interestingly, however, it did not sell its now world-famous toothpaste until 1873.
© Getty Images
5 / 29 Fotos
Colgate
- During the intermediate years, the company, which was headed up by its namesake William Colgate, primarily sold soap, candles, and starch.
© Public Domain
6 / 29 Fotos
Tiffany & Co.
- According to the biography on the Tiffany & Co. website, the company got its start as a "stationery and fancy goods store." It was founded in New York City in 1837.
© Public Domain
7 / 29 Fotos
Tiffany & Co.
- Nowadays Tiffany & Co. sells quite a different product, of course. The brand has retained its luxury status, but it is now associated specifically with jewelry instead.
© Getty Images
8 / 29 Fotos
Abercrombie & Fitch
- When David Abercrombie founded his clothing store in 1892, he intended it to be a sporting goods shop and outfitter. After that, the brand went through a number of iterations.
© Public Domain
9 / 29 Fotos
Abercrombie & Fitch
- It was only after Limited Brands bought the company in 1988 that it came to be known for the campus-style clothing it sells to many high school and college/university students today.
© Getty Images
10 / 29 Fotos
Pixar
- Today, the name Pixar is used to refer to the critically and commercially successful animation studio. It is associated with a number of hit films.
© Getty Images
11 / 29 Fotos
Pixar
- Back in the day, however, the first Pixar product was an imaging machine that has since been described as "so powerful that it changed medicine."
© Public Domain
12 / 29 Fotos
Nestlé
- Nowadays a household name thanks to its successful confectionery brands, the first product of Nestlé was actually baby formula.
© Public Domain
13 / 29 Fotos
Nestlé
- Nestlé stopped with its original product when an article appeared in the New Internationalist in 1973 criticizing the company for supposedly getting mothers in developing countries hooked on formula.
© Getty Images
14 / 29 Fotos
Berkshire Hathaway
- Berkshire Hathaway may nowadays be an investment vehicle for business tycoon Warren Buffett, but the company in fact has its roots in the textile industry.
© Public Domain
15 / 29 Fotos
Berkshire Hathaway
- There are two companies behind the modern-day Berkshire Hathaway: Hathaway Manufacturing Company and Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company.
© Getty Images
16 / 29 Fotos
Sony
- The beginnings of Sony seem very unlikely when you think about the successful tech company it is today. Its first product was nothing to do with games consoles; it was, in fact, a rice cooker.
© Getty Images
17 / 29 Fotos
Sony
- The original Sony rice cooker was supposed to fit with the company's vision of selling products suitable for everyday life. A simple product made of wood and aluminum, the rice cooker didn't take off.
© Getty Images
18 / 29 Fotos
Nokia
- Nokia, too, took the scenic route to its final destination as a tech company. It started in Finland in 1865, when Fredrik Idestam opened a pulp mill.
© Getty Images
19 / 29 Fotos
Nokia
- The company started by selling paper products (including toilet paper), before bouncing around a number of industries and eventually landing on phones in the 1960s.
© Getty Images
20 / 29 Fotos
Lego
- An amalgamation and abbreviation of the two Danish words leg godt, Lego means "play well." Lego has always been a toy company, but it didn't start out with plastic bricks.
© Getty Images
21 / 29 Fotos
Lego
- Before Lego morphed into the colorful building block producer we know it as today, the company sold wooden toys that were made in a carpenter's shop.
© Getty Images
22 / 29 Fotos
Marriott International
- Nowadays the name Marriott is associated with hotels all over the world. It didn't start out in the hotel business, however.
© Getty Images
23 / 29 Fotos
Marriott International
- Before Marriott International was Marriott International, it was the Hot Shoppes restaurant chain. In fact, it started out as a franchised A&W Root Beer stand!
© Getty Images
24 / 29 Fotos
Hoover
- For a long time now, the name Hoover has been synonymous with vacuum cleaner. Its product in that vertical was so successful that the brand name entered our vocabulary.
© Getty Images
25 / 29 Fotos
Hoover
- But before it branched out into vacuum clears, Hoover made leather goods. Their best-selling leather product was, funnily enough, a horse collar!
© Getty Images
26 / 29 Fotos
McDonald's
- When Richard and Maurice McDonald founded their famous fast food chain in the 1930s, they started not with burgers, but with hot dogs.
© Getty Images
27 / 29 Fotos
McDonald's
- This is perhaps not so surprising as other examples on this list (hot dogs are fast food too, of course). It is funny, though, that the original product plays no part in the contemporary menu. Sources: (Finance 101) (CNN) See also: These famous companies completely changed their names
© Getty Images
28 / 29 Fotos
The surprising first products of these major companies
© Getty Images
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