Sunday 4 November 2012

Related worlds: Liquid Paper (Tippex)

Bette Nesmith was an executive secretary at the Texas Bank & Trust in Dallas in 1951. She was helping to decorate the holiday windows at the bank, and saw the artists correct their mistakes by painting over the error. Nesmith decided to try the same at work.

She soon has a cottage business supplying Mistake Out to fellow secretaries. She renamed it Liquid Paper, applied for a patent, and when IBM wasn't interested plowed ahead alone. Within a decade she sold out to Gillette for nearly $50m + royalties.

Source: The Art of Innovation book, Tom Kelley, p244

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