You probably know the big names in American business - Bezos, Branson, Bloomberg. But honestly, some of the most interesting entrepreneur stories are the ones flying under the radar.

I recently came across three self-made American entrepreneurs whose journeys are pretty wild, and they're worth knowing about.

First up is Roxanne Quimby. Most people think of Burt Shavitz when they see Burt's Bees on the shelf, but Quimby was actually the mastermind behind the whole operation. She and Shavitz were living off-grid in Maine back in the 1980s - way before natural skincare became a thing - and started making products at craft fairs. While everyone else was still using chemical-laden stuff, she was already ahead of the curve. Eventually she took full control, sold to Clorox, and turned her massive fortune into land conservation work. Current estimates put her net worth around $200 million.

Then there's John Paul DeJoria. If you've used John Paul Mitchell Systems hair products or had a Patrón tequila, you've basically funded this guy's empire. He co-founded the salon brand with Paul Mitchell and later built Patrón into a trendy spirits label. What's wild is he started out selling shampoo door-to-door while homeless. Now he's worth about $2.9 billion and signed the Giving Pledge to give most of it away.

The third one that caught my attention is Judy Faulkner. She's a computer programmer who founded Epic Systems in a Wisconsin basement back in 1979 - basically during the early days of the digital revolution. She's still running it as CEO. Epic handles medical records for over 250 million patients at places like Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins. The company has never taken venture capital, never acquired anyone, and builds everything in-house. Faulkner owns 47% of the company and is worth around $7.7 billion. She also pledged to donate 99% of her wealth to charity.

What strikes me about these American entrepreneur stories is how different they are from the typical startup narrative. No massive funding rounds, no acquisition strategy, just people solving real problems and building something that lasted. Pretty refreshing compared to the usual headlines.