Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal once had an idea in college, but his professor embarrassed him in front of the class and gave him an F grade. However, Shaq turned the same idea which was inspired by Michael Jordan into a business. And it has now earned over a billion dollars. Therefore, it is safe to say that Shaquille O’Neal believed in his idea despite criticisms from his professor. And it eventually paid off massive returns.

When Shaq came into the league, he had a contract with Reebok. However, after an incident where a mom confronted him about his shoes being very expensive, Shaq had an epiphany. He wanted everyone to be able to afford shoes. Therefore, he left Reebok and tried an idea of his own.

But this same idea had earned him an ‘F’ Grade when he was in college.

Shaquille O’Neal got inspired by Michael Jordan and created a billion-dollar idea

When Shaq attended LSU, he took up marketing as a subject. And the professor gave the class a project. The project was that students needed to get something that could be sold in the future. And Shaq thought he had the perfect idea.

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He wanted to build his own brand like Jordan, where he had his own shoes, socks, shirts, and everything possible. However, his professor gave him an F on the subject because Big Men were not the faces of the league back then. And so, they could barely sell anything. He even embarrassed Shaq in front of the entire class.

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And he wasn’t exactly wrong. At that time, there were only guards and wingmen who sold the hottest products in the league. But that was all set to change 10 years down the line.

Now, the NBA has one of its best brand values in Shaq. And after his incident with the mom, Shaq decided to go out on his own. Many doubted his idea and said that it wouldn’t be successful. But Shaq launched a shoeline that was affordable to everyone and it turned out to be a massive success.

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In fact, it earned more than a billion dollars in sales and earned Shaq a pretty nifty sum to his net worth as well. Shaq may have failed in his assignment, but he proved his professor wrong by going through with his idea.