Spanx founder reveals billion-dollar secret that kept her from selling fax machines

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, says she guarded her billion-dollar idea for a full year before sharing it with anyone, including family and friends. In a Fortune magazine interview conducted for the School of Hard Knocks series, Blakely said ideas are most vulnerable when first conceived and that she deliberately allowed ego to stay out of the equation. With only $5,000 in savings from her days selling fax machines, Blakely launched Spanx in 2000 and the company has since grown into a global shapewear and apparel brand valued at about $1.3 billion.

In the early years, Blakely avoided investors and described taking unconventional steps to grow the brand. She moved Spanx products at Neiman Marcus closer to the checkout counter and away from what she called the “sleepiest corner of the store.” She used bins bought from Office Depot to display items near the counter, an arrangement she acknowledged may not have been officially approved but staf f publicly recognized as a clever tactic. She also sent a prototype to Oprah Winfrey and later leveraged social media to emphasize the lengths she would go to secure visibility for a brand that started with almost nothing in the way of capital.

Blakely has described a willingness to take risks that diverged from conventional fashion-entrepreneur playbooks. She reportedly rode around in a vehicle with the license plate “SPANX” until women began following her home, asking for free samples, and she mailed a prototype to Oprah to test. She even agreed to appear on Richard Branson’s reality television show, The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best, to gain exposure, and she paid friends to shop for Spanx so the brand would not appear to be faltering. “You gotta do what you gotta do,” she wrote on Instagram.

Throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s, Blakely steered Spanx without venture capital, relying on direct-to-consumer efforts, retailer partnerships, and word-of-mouth to grow. She has said that those early hustles were part of a larger philosophy: keep the idea to yourself long enough to build momentum, then move decisively when opportunity arises. She has also shared that she subscribes to the mindset of asking for forgiveness rather than permission when pursuing unconventional strategies. Blakely, who is now worth an estimated $1.3 billion, has emphasized that prioritizing focus and resilience helped turn a skeptical reception into a global brand.

The Spanx founder’s anecdotes underscore a broader narrative about entrepreneurship: significant value can emerge from secrecy in the very early stages, coupled with a willingness to disrupt traditional paths to market. Blakely’s account, recounted in Fortune’s interview and in the School of Hard Knocks series, traces a clear timeline from a modest $5,000 bootstrapped startup to a recognizable retail staple with a wide-ranging consumer base. The career arc also illustrates how media, celebrity endorsements, and bold retail moves can amplify a brand that started with a simple, practical idea: shapewear that works well and feels invisible under clothing.

Blakely’s story, while extraordinary, aligns with a growing set of accounts about founder-only risk tolerance as a differentiator in business and markets. Her decision to avoid investors in the early years, combined with a willingness to test unconventional tactics in real-world retail settings, helped Spanx gain visibility without diluting control. In a marketplace where quickly scaled, high-profile funding often dominates the narrative, Blakely’s path highlights how a founder’s intimate product knowledge, disciplined brand vision, and relentless execution can yield transformative results. As Spanx continues to expand its product lines and distribution, Blakely’s reflections offer a lens into the choices that can shape the trajectory of a consumer goods company in the 21st century.