What would you give to develop a product like WD-40? Is it easy to find a niche that can be captured and sustain a brand for years? How many failures led to that success?
Let’s fast forward to our technology-fueled world. Think about the overnight success of the game app “Angry Birds”. Simple, straightforward, everyone can play….and, while a version is free, the fully featured app is only 99 cents. Do you think that the developers reached that success quickly?
The answer to the question about WD-40 is in the name – and the answer is 39. The chemists failed 39 times (that they counted). The name stands for ‘Water Displacement – 40th attempt.’
The answer to the Angry Birds question is that success didn’t come easily either. They experienced 52 failures and were faced with bankruptcy before achieving their ‘overnight’ success. Myth of the overnight success
The message is that success that comes easily is likely the exception. Stick-to-it-iveness is a trait that many successful entrepreneurs share. Remember that Thomas Edison is reported to have said something to the effect that, ‘I didn’t fail 10,000 times. I discovered 10,000 things that don’t work.’
Check out other examples in this Fast Company article: Dirty Little Secrets of Overnight Successes
