Jim Koch founded Boston Beer Company, brewer of Sam Adams, in 1984. 

By 2013, he was a billionaire. 

The break that enabled Boston Beer to become a $600-million-in-annual-revenue company was an insight. 

Back in the '80s, American beer was "basically a wasteland," he says, with beer drinkers having to quaf one of two beverages — fizzy, weak-tasting mass-produced American beers or imports that grew stale by the time they got over here. 

"There really wasn't an alternative that was rich, flavorful beer delivered fresh," he says. 

So, as an entrepreneur does, he made one called Sam Adams.