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For sometime now, we’ve had a special project in the works. We wanted to give our listeners and readers a chance to hear a new Why Didn’t I Think of That?® feature every day, even if they’re away from the radio. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Today marks the beginning phases of a plan [...]
Nobody thought about putting paint in an aerosol can until Ed Seymour. In 1949, Seymour was looking for a novel way to demonstrate a new aluminum paint. His wife suggested putting it in an aerosol can, like ones recently introduced for insecticides. To his surprise, the sprayer — not the paint — became the star of his demonstration.
While in Hawaii in the 1800′s, James Dole discovered a fruit most people had never seen or heard of before: The pineapple. He began importing the fruit to the mainland and introduced the country to this exotic, sweet treat. The pineapple became a national favorite, and the Dole Food Company became the largest supplier of fruits and vegetables in the world.
He started his first business in college. He sold his second business to Clear Channel. He came within four minutes of winning CBS’s the Amazing Race. He’s led an interesting life, but what Blake Mycoskie is best known for is starting TOMS Shoes, the company that has donated well over a million shoes to needy men, women, and children.
Today it’s as synonymous with sports as cheerleaders or sweatbands. But not too long ago, Gatorade was just a nameless concoction, cooked up to revitalize the University of Florida’s football team: the Gators. The Gators were losing. A lot. One reason for that was the hot Florida weather dehydrating the players. The “Gator-Aid” not only saved the team, but it has been hydrating and refreshing some of the world’s greatest athletes ever since.
Today’s Hall of Fame Spotlight: The Story of Gatorade.
What they do:
Created the first mechanical dishwasher.
Inspiration:
Josephine Cochrane was a wealthy socialite with a problem- when her servants washed the dishes, they were chipping the china that had been in her family since the 17th century. But, at the time, there was no better way to clean dishes. So she invented one: the dishwasher.
About the business:
Cochrane drew up some ideas on paper and took to the shed behind her house. She took careful measurements of her dishes and built compartments for them inside a wheel in a copper boiler. She added some water, soap, and a motor, and the first successful dishwasher was born. Cochrane soon founded the Garis-Cochran Dish-Washing Machine Company, and got some of her machines in the Chicago World's Fair. The company eventually became Kitchen Aid, and the rest is history.
Jake Zien was a 17 year old with a quirky idea for a flexible power strip. Ben Kaufman was a 19 year with a start-up and a vision of harnessing ideas just like Jake’s.
Now, thanks to Kaufman’s invention crowdsourcing site Quirky, Zien and other inventors like him are seeing their products go from sketchpad to store shelf faster than they can say “perpetual royalties.”
Searching for comfort from the heat, Steven Villegas altered a pair of army surplus pants into a legless skirt, optimized for the working man. He called it the “Utilikilt.” His utilitarian man-skirt quickly became a surprise hit with construction workers, bikers, and other unlikely customers. On the latest episode of The Why Didn’t I Think of That? ® Podcast, we put the spotlight on this up-and-coming entrepreneur.
The Why Guys speak with Villegas about his unique product on this week’s Why Didn’t I Think of That? Podcast.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some sort of community where artists, tinkerers, geeks, and inventors of all shapes and sizes could pay a small monthly fee and have access to expensive, technical tools, as well as a work space in which to operate?
Well, actually, there is. It’s called TechShop.
What’s worse than a kid with a runny nose? A kid crying because his runny nose is red, dry, and rubbed raw from traditional tissues. Two creative moms realized this, and invented Boogie Wipes.
Sure, it only takes one company or product to revolutionize an industry, but selling people something they’ve never seen before isn’t easy. The general public tends to shy away from cutting edge technologies and trends, waiting for them to become more commonplace before adapting them. Your job is to change their minds. But how? Luckily, many before us have made bold, world-changing moves that have dramatically shifted the courses of industries, and made the people behind the companies filthy rich. One such example is Apple Computers.
