These rich and famous people had a problem... so they started a company

From tequila to toddler clothing, these super-successful celebrity companies were all started to solve a very specific problem.

Think you have to be a seasoned businessperson like Richard Branson or Sheryl Sandberg to found a super-successful company?

The following businesses were all founded by rich and famous people. All of them were started to solve a specific problem and then went on to achieve success way beyond what their creators would have envisaged.

Casamigos – George Clooney & Rande Gerber

When drinking buddies George Clooney and Rande Gerber, a nightclub entrepreneur married to model Cindy Crawford, built holiday homes next to each other in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, they created a tequila brand by accident.

Searching for a tequila brand they could enjoy with less of an after-burn and hangover-potential, Clooney suggested they create their own.

With the help of property developer Mike Meldman, they found a distillery to produce one until they ordered so many bottles that the distillery asked them to secure a business licence.

Just four years later, they sold Casamigos to beverage giant Diageo for up to $1 billion (£860m) – that’s $700 million (£603m) with a further $300 million (£258m) consideration based on the brand’s performance over the next decade.

The three founders invested just $600,000 (£516,627) each initially and could net up to $333 million (£287m) each.

Latin World Entertainment – Sofia Vergara

Back in the late nineties, Modern Family and Chef star Sofía Vergara, whose net worth is variously estimated at $160 million (£138m) and $180 million (£155m), was co-hosting two Spanish-language TV shows and struggling to find a specialist talent management firm to represent her professionally.

The Colombian-born actress’ solution was to start her own, Latin World Entertainment, which she co-founded with Luis Balaguer in 1998.

Now the multimillion-dollar firm, based in Los Angeles, is seen as the premier talent management agency for Hispanic TV stars in the US.

Representing some of the biggest names in Spanish-language television, LWE has also expanded into marketing and in 2015 launched a Spanish-language news website with CNET.

Meanwhile, Vergara has since co-founded a lingerie subscription firm and a digital media company called Raze with Balaguer and Emiliano Calemzuk, the former president of Fox TV.

The Honest Company – Jessica Alba

She’s more familiar to TV fans as a superhero than a CEO, but actress Jessica Alba straddles both worlds.

The Dark Angel and Fantastic Four star founded the ethical baby product company after a baby clothes detergent brought her out in a rash.

The Honest Company markets baby, health and beauty products made without petrochemicals and synthetic perfumes in the US and Canada and now has annual sales of $250 million (£215m). It’s not been an easy road to success, however.

It took Alba three years to find the right business partners and in recent years the company has had to contend with lawsuits over claims its baby food was falsely labeled organic (thrown out by the judge), to complaints its sun cream failed to protect against sunburn and its laundry detergent contained sodium lauryl sulfate – an ingredient the firm had promised never to use.

In 2017 there were rumors Alba’s firm, valued at $1 billion (£760m), could be sold to Unilever but it remains her business today.

Top image: DFree/Shutterstock