I always love reading about how companies start out doing one thing, but then find success in something totally different.  Here are two great recent examples.  First, Flickr’s parent company Ludicorp started out by trying to create a massive multiplayer game called Game Never Ending.  It never worked out-but the tools used to create the game ended up as Flickr, which Yahoo! bought for a reputed $30M in 2005.

Similarly, YouTube was originally a dating site called “Tune In Hook Up”.  It was failing and then the co-founders were inspired by the Asian tsunami and Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction.  Seriously-read it here.