My Uncle Billy had a model yacht when he was a boy.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Kieron Smith, boy'

He had to recruit a management team, which in this case was comprised of a water driller named "Uncle Billy" plus his two sons.

FORBES: The Pennsylvania Start-up That Changed The World

Fortunately for innovation, postal service to the backwoods of Pennsylvania was so slow that the letter arrived a day or two after Drake and Uncle Billy had, at a depth of 69 and a half feet, struck oil.

FORBES: The Pennsylvania Start-up That Changed The World

The letter was forgotten as, on Aug. 29, 1859, Drake and Uncle Billy and his sons got feverishly busy pumping oil and filling wash tubs and whiskey barrels (why we speak of "barrels" of oil today) with the black liquid.

FORBES: The Pennsylvania Start-up That Changed The World