General Motors loved this Pakistani-American guy's bumpers so much that they dropped him.

General Motors loved this Pakistani-American guy's bumpers so much that they dropped him. Today, his parts are in one out of every three cars in America. Back in 1967, Shahid Khan left Lahore with $500, landed in Illinois, and survived in a $2 a night room while washing dishes for $1/hour. While studying engineering, he worked at Flex-N-Gate, an auto parts shop, and developed a one-piece bumper that was lighter, stronger, and cheaper to produce. In 1978, Shahid quit his job, started Bumper Works, and landed GM as his first customer. An engineer begged him to make the bumpers lighter or he'd be fired. So Shahid redesigned them, saved the guy's job, and landed the order. A year later, GM said the bumpers worked so well that they wanted them on every car, but his tiny company wouldn't be able to keep up. He was out. So Shahid flew Japanese grad students to Japan as translators and cold-called automakers. They loved his tech, and for years, every truck from Japan had his bumpers. In 1980, he bought Flex-N-Gate from his former employer. When the auto industry collapsed in 2008, Shahid had to close factories and lay off workers. By 2009, only two of the 19 auto parts suppliers survived, and Flex-N-Gate was one of them. In 2012, Forbes called Shahid Khan the face of the American dream. The same year, he bought the Jaguars for $770M, becoming the NFL's first non-white owner. Today, Shahid is worth over $14B, and Flex-N-Gate makes $9B a year. His parts are in one out of every three cars sold in the U.S.