Woman turned down job, started a business with $50,000. The company is worth $1.2 billion now

Within a year, Angie Hicks had signed up 1,000 members. (Representational)

What does it take to build a billion-dollar company? For Angie Hicks, the answer lies in confronting her deepest fears and seizing an unexpected opportunity. In 1995, Hicks, then 22, turned down a cushy consulting job to co-found what would later become Angi, formerly Angie’s List—a platform now worth over $1.2 billion.

Angie Hicks’ path to entrepreneurship wasn’t planned. Weeks before graduating from DePauw University, Hicks had her future mapped out: a consulting job in Washington, D.C., with a $40,000 starting salary. But an unexpected call from her former boss, Bill Oesterle, flipped the script. Oesterle, a venture capitalist restoring an old house in Columbus, Ohio, saw the potential for a service connecting homeowners with reliable contractors.

With $50,000 in seed money, he invited Hicks to co-found Columbus Neighbors. The catch? A $20,000 annual salary and a job that involved everything Hicks dreaded, including door-to-door sales.

“I’m very shy,” Hicks told CNBC. “Going door to door like that was my worst nightmare.”
When doubts overwhelmed her, Hicks turned to her grandfather for advice. His simple yet profound response—“What’s the difference between being 22 and looking for a job, and being 23 and looking for a job?”—convinced her to take the plunge.

Straight out of college, Hicks moved to Columbus and began work from a tiny, 100-square-foot office. With Oesterle juggling his full-time finance job, she often worked solo, tackling tasks ranging from borrowing holiday card mailing lists to parading through town to promote the fledgling service.

While her introversion made sales pitches daunting, Hicks devised strategies to push through. “I practiced scripts, set small goals, and celebrated every membership I sold,” she said. Within a year, she had signed up 1,000 members, enough to attract investor confidence.

By 1996, the company rebranded to Angie’s List.

What began as a call-in service and newsletter evolved into a digital powerhouse, connecting millions of homeowners with service providers for everything from repairs to cleaning. In 1998, Oesterle left his corporate role to join Hicks full-time, relocating the headquarters to Indianapolis.

Over the years, Angi has consistently reinvented itself. In 2016, it transitioned to a free-to-use model, relying on contractors’ advertising fees and premium memberships for revenue. Today, it dominates the $90 billion U.S. home services market, pulling in $1.3 billion in revenue in 2023.