When an Austrian toothpaste salesman named Dietrich arrived in Thailand suffering from jet lag, a hotelier recommended a can of the local pick me up, Krating Daeng.
So impressed was Dietrich that whilst he was still in Thailand, he did a deal to market a less sweet, carbonated version of the drink in Europe.
Every piece of market research and testing however, suggested that the drink would flop.
His business advisers told him that his new venture would fail and bring him to the verge of bankruptcy. But such was Dietrich’s belief in his product, that he ignored all the market research and expert advice and pressed ahead with a European launch.
Today, Dietrich Mateschitz has a personal fortune estimated at $13.2billion and 6 billion cans of his drink were consumed last year.
Ps. Just in case you’re not fluent in Thai, Krating Daeng means “Red Buffalo” or “Red Bull”.