If You Invented Valve Technology for Ketchup Bottles

• You'd be worth at least $53.95 million today

If you’re old enough to remember ketchup bottles before Paul Brown’s invention, you know how difficult and frustrating it could be to try to get the ketchup out. Brown invented a valve that releases the ketchup when the bottle is squeezed and closes when the bottle isn’t being squeezed anymore.

Paul Brown sold his company, Liquid Molding Systems Inc. for $13 million in 1995. If you had invested the money in the S&P 500, it would have grown to $53.95 million by now. In Brown’s case, after the sale he paid back all the people who lent him money and acquired some real estate. Inventing something is a great and realistic way to make your first $1 million.