Founder of the Bic Corporation and creator of that ubiquitous ballpoint pen, Marcel Bich was the went from a small-business owner in the outskirts of Paris, to the creator of a trademark that is recognized throughout the world.
In 1951, when Marcel Bich’s innovation was distributed in stores, he estimated that he would make a sizeable profit if he sold at least 10,000 pens a day. And while he knew his ballpoint pen—which was less expensive and more efficient than his competitors’—was a great improvement, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine it would catch on so fervently and sell in countries all over the world. When he died in 1996, daily sales had reached 15 million.