1) After growing his auto-parts empire for 20 years, Shahid Khan turned to something else he loved. Football. A sport he was introduced to by his friends in college.
He'd always dreamed of owning his own sports team.
2) In Jan 2008, Georgia Frontiere, majority owner of the St. Louis Rams, passed away. This was Shahid's chance.
Prospective buyers who wanted to take Georgia’s slot wasted no time, immediately calling her children the same day her passing was announced.
But not Shahid.
3) He didn’t ask for a meeting. Instead, he waited.
Shahid respected her family and their privacy during this difficult time.
He continued to wait for two months before quietly reaching out and asking, “is it inappropriate to be calling about possibly purchasing the team?”
4) Georgia’s family took the meeting with Shahid, and he showed them his vision to preserve the Ram's legacy.
He won them over not only by what he said, but because of how he approached setting up that meeting.
“He wanted to be respectful. I was very impressed with that.”
5) Unfortunately, the deal ended up falling through because another Ram’s owner used a contractual right to match Shahid’s bid.
Shahid was disappointed, but undeterred.
6) In Nov 2011, Shahid called up Wayne Weaver, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Wayne saw Shahid as a passionate fan. Shahid attended the Jaguars season openers and even watched games at a local bar with his son.
7) But Wayne also knew of how Shahid respected and treated Georgia’s family after her passing, even though their agreement didn’t materialize.
That sealed the deal.
8) He bought the Jaguars from Wayne and, in doing so, came into a league of his own.
Shahid became the first minority owner in the NFL.
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In April 2001 after his company ran out of money, a casual DJ and former Philips executive secured a last-ditch meeting to pitch Steve Jobs.
Fast forward 20 years, and he’s now worth ~$800M.
Here’s how one meeting changed his life 🧶👇
1) When he wasn’t DJing events, Tony Fadell was building operating systems for Personal Digital Assistants (back when those were a thing) at General Magic, and eventually made his way to Philips.
All the while, he was obsessed with solving a major personal problem.
2) He hated lugging around his bulky CD collection between gigs.
After seeing Audible's digital audio tech, Fadell tried to pitch a similar solution to management, but was rebuffed.
With no other option, Fadell started his own company, Fuse Systems, to create a digital jukebox.