8. Steve Ballmer

After his graduation from Harvard, Steve Ballmer took a job at Proctor & Gamble helping sell a device called the Coldsnap Freezer Dessert Maker. After that, he helped promote the Moist 'n' Easy Snack Cake. Although his early assignments at Proctor & Gamble didn't reflect the path he ultimately took with his career, it shows that he's a versatile salesman.

In 2007, he was still able to recite the Coldsnap Freezer Dessert Maker's slogan on stage at AllThingsD's D11 conference: "Makes revolutionary desserts you never could have thought of before."

9. Eric Schmidt

After interning at Bell Labs, one of Eric Schmidt's first full-time jobs was working for Zilog, a company that makes chips. In fact, some of Zilog's older chips are found in gaming consoles like the Nintendo Game Boy and Sega Genesis. Schmidt's background also includes holding high-ranking positions at Sun Microsystems and Xerox.

10. Jony Ive

Before joining Apple in 1992, Ive worked at a London-based startup called Tangerine. Ive eventually grew tired of his work at Tangerine, but the final straw came when he was assigned to design a toilet for one of the company's clients, Ideal Standard. When Ive presented his final design, it was criticized for being too expensive to build, according to Time.