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Founders: #300 James Dyson (Against the Odds)

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What I learned from reading Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson for the 4th time. You can also find the book on Book Finder. ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best and listen to episode 293 David Senra: Passion and Pain ---- Episode Outline: [4:30] Invention: A Life by James Dyson (Founders #205) [2:41] I am a creator of products, a builder of things, and my name appears on them. That is how I make a living and they are what have made my name at least familiar in a million homes. [11:00] Isambard Kingdom Brunel: The Definitive Biography of The Engineer, Visionary, and Great Briton by L.T.C. Rolt. (Founders #201) [13:10] After the idea there is plenty of time to learn the technology. My first cyclonic vacuum cleaner was built out of cereal packets and masking tape long before I understood how it worked. [14:15] Difference for the sake of it. In everything. Because it must be better. From the moment the idea strikes, to the running of the business. Difference, and retention of total control. [18:00] I would not be dragged into something I didn't want to do. [22:40] They were all running round and round the track like a herd of sheep and not getting

[00:00:00] It must have been sometime in 1979 that I first heard the words, but James, if there were a better kind of vacuum cleaner, Hoover would have invented it. That was just before I left the first company that I had set up. I gave up security, income, and respectability, and persuaded an old friend to come in with me on a project that I was developing in the garage behind my house. For 12 years, I labored under heavier and heavier debt. I tried and failed to interest the major manufacturing companies in my product. [00:00:28] I fought terrible legal battles on both sides of the…

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