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Founders: #69 Charles Goodyear: An Inventor's Obsession and the Struggle for a Rubber Monopoly

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What I learned from reading The Goodyear Story: An Inventor's Obsession and The Struggle For A Rubber Monopoly by Richard Korman. An obsessive quest to find the recipe for rubber (0:01) Charles Goodyear epitomized the spirit of the upstart American technologists (6:15) the early life of Goodyear's family (20:10) coming up with the idea for a domestic made only hardware store (29:00) a crushing failure + debtor's prison (35:20) accidentally finding his life's work (38:18) optimism + positive mental attitude (44:30) Patent #3633 (1:03:30) why Charles did what he did (1:11:30) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- “I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

[00:00:00] Long before America became an international economic powerhouse in the late 19th century, a generation of visionary inventors gambled on innovations they hoped would bring them riches. Chief among them was Charles Goodyear, who in the 1830s began an obsessive quest to find the recipe for rubber, the material he believed would change the world. Chasing his dream exacted a stiff price, plunging Goodyear and his family into an underworld of poverty and litigation. He spent extended periods in debtor's prison and acquired powerful enemies determined to control this miracle substance…

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