Chapter 19. persistence sucks
The story of James Dyson and his dual cyclone vacuum cleaner is the stuff of business legend. In true David and Goliath (and gen e) style, Dyson beat near bankruptcy to establish his factory in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, and become the UK market leader. Fifty-something Dyson is proof that gen e is ageless and that persistence pays off.
As with most overnight successes, it has been a long journey for Dyson. He invented the bagless dual cyclone vacuum cleaner in 1978, when flared trousers were in fashion the first time round. Five long years and 5,127 prototypes later, his idea became a working model. But it was another ten years before the product reached the market.
In between, Dyson tried to get backing from the leading ...
Get Generation Entrepreneur now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
