5,127 tries at one vacuum cleaner

James Dyson spent five years building the same vacuum cleaner. About 5,127 prototypes.

His wife's salary as an art teacher helped pay for a good part of it.

And when he finally had one that worked? No manufacturer or distributor in the UK would take it. They were making good money on replacement dust bags. A vacuum without a bag was a threat to them, not an opportunity.

So he went to Japan. The G-Force was sold there through catalogues in 1983, for roughly $2,000.

Then he stopped asking. He set up his own manufacturing company, and the Dual Cyclone went on to become the fastest-selling vacuum cleaner ever made in the UK.

I checked the numbers on his Wikipedia page this morning, because 5,127 sounds made up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dyson

It is not.

Most of us quit at prototype three. We show it to two people, they shrug, and we call it market feedback.

Sometimes the shrug only means you are threatening somebody's dust bags.

Quick one for you. What prototype number are you on right now? Keep counting.