>>2940957Timothy Dexter. Born as a farmhand in the mid 18th century, the only person who didn't think he was a fool was his wife, a wealthy widow that allowed him to make business decisions with her money, his first being to purchase Continental Dollars in anticipation of the US Revolution being successful, a daring move which payed off and allowed him to start a shipping company. Now, Dexter got as far as he did through dumb luck and knew fuck all about economics, but somehow his derping and the aid of his subordinates kept his business afloat the whole time. His trade missions included:
>Shipping warming pans and mittens to the West indies, the former sold as ladles and the latter to Portuguese merchants on their way to China respectively.>Shipping coal to Newcastle (major coal producer), which just so happened to coincide with a strike so people bought it anyway.>Shipping stray cats to the Caribbean>Hoarded whalebone and later resold them as corset support material for a profitHe later wised up and started to make educated business decisions like putting stock on important toll bridges, but he became the entrepreneur he was by winging it and did things that would 90% had made anyone else bankrupt.
A true American hero.