Why Did Kodak Fail?
They Invented the Thing That Killed Them
📜 What Happened
Kodak engineer Steven Sasson built the world's FIRST digital camera in 1975. Management's response: 'That's cute — but don't tell anyone about it.' Film margins were 70%; digital threatened them. Kodak owned the patents, the brand, the labs — and sat on all of it for two decades while others built the future it had invented. Bankruptcy: 2012. The patents were sold to pay creditors.
☠️ The Fatal Mistake
Protecting the profitable present from the inevitable future — they saw the disruption FIRST and chose quarterly comfort over survival.
🧠 The Lesson (Free for You)
Your cash cow is someone else's target. Cannibalize yourself or be eaten — the choice is only ever WHO does it, never whether.
📕 The Antidote Book
Two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two little-people (Hem and Haw) live in a maze, hunting cheese — a metaphor for whatever you chase: the job, the relationship, the market, the identity. When Cheese Station C empties,…
📖 OPEN THE FULL INTERACTIVE BREAKDOWN →Searchable, filterable, free to read — they paid billions; your lesson is free.