#155 — A Better Mousetrap

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The United States is a nation of inventors. Leave us alone with some tools for ten minutes and we’ll start inventing right then and there. We’ll invent so hard that we might sprain something in the process. But that’s a risk we’ll have to take because we’re deeply, deeply committed to inventing a better mousetrap. We’re happiest when we can take the simple, elegant solution to a problem and replace it with a complicated, over-engineered solution to the same problem. If we can create new problems in the process, we’re absolutely ecstatic. New problems mean more new solutions and that means more business.

This is the theory that underlies some of our greatest inventions like the Flowbee, the ShamWow, and the sub-prime mortgage. Who would ever think that off-beat products like these could sell? Americans, that’s who. We think they’ll sell because of our single greatest invention; marketing.

Really.

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Like this excerpt? Want the whole story? Listen to the audio version by clicking the ‘Play’ button at the top of this post. If you’d rather read it, you can find the full text at
http://myfavoriteshortcomings.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/a-better-mousetrap/

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Notes:

• You can learn about the Discovery Channel program at
  http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/pitchmen/pitchmen.html
• You can check out The Retroist blog at
  http://theretroist.wordpress.com
• Or you can meet some of my TwitterPals by clicking on their names @Grahaminchina, @Ogre_Kev, @WilliamPall, @Mainframe, @JeffreyHite, @Piratescribe, @SusietheGeek,  @BeccaVan and @Gen215