Pope Sixtus IV

Lived: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484

Pope Sixtus is credited for realizing that the ‘wages of sin’ meant more than displeasing repercussions. He set out a new business idea and realized that there was money to be made in damnation and thus opening a new market – the dead – for the pure or holy indulgences the church had been selling for years. Relatives and friends of the deceased quickly filled the Vatican coffers with huge payments in order to lessen the time their loved ones spent in purgatory. In 1478, he expanded the market and this swelled the purgatory’s ranks by 100,000 souls in 15 years. 

Benjamin Franklin

Lived: January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790

Popularly known as the ‘First American’, Franklin in real sense can also be called as the first entrepreneur from America. He was a complete individual mastering all fields and subjects; he had great expertise as an author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. He was also very smart and intelligent and knew how to commercialize his business idea.