In 1870, a methodical businessman named John D. Rockefeller was running a modest oil refinery in Cleveland, Ohio.
At the time, the oil industry was chaotic, wasteful, and plagued by boom-and-bust cycles.
Rockefeller envisioned bringing order, efficiency, and stability through systematic business practices and vertical integration.
So he founded an oil company that would revolutionize industrial organization and become America's first great business empire.
A company that would control 90% of oil refining and fundamentally reshape the American economy.
A company called Standard Oil.
This is a story of strategic innovation, ruthless efficiency, and the birth of modern industrial capitalism.
Through relentless cost-cutting, strategic acquisitions, and pioneering business practices, Rockefeller built an unprecedented monopoly. He owned refineries, pipelines, railroads and even barrel-making facilities to control every aspect of the oil business. His company developed over 300 oil-based products and made kerosene affordable for the average household.
By 1911, when Standard Oil was broken up by antitrust regulators, Rockefeller had become America's first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the entire U.S. economy. But perhaps his most lasting legacy was establishing the template for modern philanthropy, using his wealth to pioneer developments in medicine, education and scientific research.
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If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m Alex-the human behind Faster Than Normal.
While I deeply despise bios, here are the highlights of my journey so far:
2015: Represented Australia in Water Polo at 17 years old
2018: Graduated as Valedictorian of my major at the University of Western Australia (1st in course across 3 units, 2nd in course across 2 units, 3rd in course once)
2019-2020: Youngest in graduate cohort at Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division at 21 years old.
2021-2022: Worked for 1 year at the leading Growth Marketing Agency in Western Australia, Ammo Marketing.
2022-2023: Promoted from Business Development Representative to Account Executive in 4 months and then Head of Go-To-Market in 5 months at Zipline.io, a Series A B2B Healthcare startup.
2022-Present: Built an online community of 0.75 million incredible people in ~18 months.
2024: Sold my first business, The Intelligence Age, at 26.
These are merely the wins; believe me, the losses are plentiful, though not for a first date.
I’ll be sharing these-and more-along the way.
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We achieve this by sharing the stories, ideas, and frameworks of the world's most prolific people and companies-and how you can apply them to build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.
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