Fairytale Characters - What businesses would they run?

by Startacus Admin

“A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men” - Roald Dahl

Fairy tale characters have little use for the entrepreneurial scene...

Cinderella has enough problems picking glass out of her feet without having to worry about the bottom line, Snow White is two busy evading homicidal fruit vendors to care about overheads and Rapunzel has her hands full with split ends and the ever rising price of conditioner.

With such fanciful and obscure problems to occupy their time it’s no wonder that entrepreneurial spirit features so little in the lives of our favorite fairytale characters.

Quite a shame in a way, but a blessed relief in another, I mean what kid wants to hear a fairytale about Snow White the tech startup founder and her 7 angel investors? … Pass the pillow please!

But to indulge the playful whims of our heart, and cheer up what is is turning out to be a particularly gloomy September afternoon, we decided to play around with, what i'm sure you'll agree is one of the most pressing and important questions currently facing the business community: ‘If our favorite fairytale characters were entrepreneurs, what businesses would they run?’

Let the nonsense begin.

Fairy Godmother - Once Cinderella’s tale went viral, the Fairy Godmother simply couldn't keep up with demand for her particular brand of wish-granting. A lesser fairy would have diluted her product into obscurity, but not this one, oh no! To grant the wishes she simply didn't have time to attend to herself, she established the worlds first wish-based crowdfunding platform ‘Coach Starter’ - simply create your wish campaign and watch the funds flow in.

Rapunzel - With all that time spent in a tower ‘without a stair’ it’s fair to assume that this long-haired lady has worked out a thing or two about the structural integrity of unusually shaped tall buildings. But rather than work her
way up the corporate ladder, I think her ingenuity and proclivity for stressful situations would draw her inexorably to the world of business, most likely as the founder of an innovative architecture business.

Cinderella - Following in the footsteps of her Fairy Godmother Cinderella has carved out a successful enterprise transforming useless old rubbish into beautiful, elegant and valuable decorative pieces. Through her Upcycling business ‘Glass Slipper Designs’ she prescribes to the philosophy “It’s never too late” and that even the dankest of dreary old items can be transformed into something stunning.

The Evil Queen - After the unpleasantness surrounding the attempted murder of her stepdaughter, the Evil Queen hitched up her apple cart, dusted herself off and set about pursuing her real passion; the development of a seamless operating system for personal mobile devices. Having reflected on the potential value of her homemade ‘Mirror Mirror on the Wall’ software, the Evil Queen (who subsequently changed her name to simply ‘The Queen’) advanced her prototype into the worlds must-have operating system- Poison Apple.

Pinocchio - Having seen the error of his ways and transformed from a boy of wood into one of flesh and blood, Pinocchio now spends his time teaching his fellow man about the perils of lying- though not in the ‘telling lies isn’t nice’ kind of way that you might expect. Pinocchio prefers a more cut-throat class of morality enforcement, through his very own law firm which specialises in holding big business accountable through class action lawsuits. 

Hansel - After Gretel’s breakdown, Hansel, determined not to let his experiences in the witch’s house hold him back, created an innovative new app called ‘Breadcrumbs’- a mobile navigation system which instantly helps you to retrace your steps on request, ensuring that you never get lost again. Whether you are having a stroll in the city or traversing a mighty mountain range you have, at the your fingertips a map displaying the exact route you have taken and how to get back to where you came from.

And they all lived happily every after…

If like Pinocchio, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Hansel, The ‘Evil’ Queen and the Fairy Godmother you have a great project, idea or startup, then why not add it to our collaboration space where you can get plenty of advice and support.

Or perhaps you you might like to have a chuckle at some of these recent nonsensical ramblings-

Shakespeare's advice to the startup community

What does your choice of coffee say about you as a startup founder

Literary characters who would have made great startup founders

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• #pinocchio
• #rapunzel
• #hansel
• #cinderella
• #evil queen
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• #banter
• #fairytale

Published on: 4th September 2014