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Fortune
Fortune
Emma Burleigh

Like Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz, Chess.com's cofounder says people doubted his vision—with a 225 million-user empire, he's now having the last laugh

Chess.com cofounder Danny Rensch (Credit: Stuart Isett/Fortune)

In any entrepreneur’s journey, there are bound to be naysayers and doors slammed in their face. 

When Jeff Bezos was drumming up his early visions of Amazon while working as a hedge fund manager, his Wall Street boss questioned if he could achieve success and financial security by selling books on the internet. And when Howard Schultz was looking for money to back his coffee business, called Starbucks, more than 200 investors believed no one would pay $3 for a cup of joe. 

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