Bill Gates and Paul Allen started their first business venture together in 1972 with a company called Traf-O-Data, which read data from roadway traffic counters and created automated reports.

A closer look

Bill Gates and Paul Allen started their first business venture together in 1972 with a company called Traf-O-Data, which read data from roadway traffic counters and created automated reports. Long before they unleashed the dominance of Microsoft Windows upon a helpless globe, the dynamic duo was struggling to sell a clunky machine designed to count cars on municipal highways. The business was a massive commercial failure, largely because the machine barely worked during their primary investor demonstrations. It is comforting to know that one of the wealthiest men in modern history started out by totally bombing a tech pitch for a glorified vehicle tallying device. If the creators of the blue screen of death could survive their first machine catching fire metaphorically during a pitch, there is still hope for your terribly thought-out startup idea