text: A lot of big name brands started out exactly this way. In the mid-60s I went to a shoe company selling Tigers located in a run down rental house in Beaverton Oregon. Bought a pair of running shoes from a guy named Phil. That company now calls itself Nike. And in the late 70s a bearded hippie on a bicycle used to come around my bike shop selling tires and imported bike parts from Italy. He got to sleep in the back of the shop because motels were too expensive. His company is called Specialized and is the biggest bike company in the USA. So these entrepreneurs are the future.