Lauren Alexander, Author at Tweak Your Biz

Technology

Before Google indexed the web, Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell their PageRank algorithm to Excite in 1999 for $1 million, then dropped the price to $750,000 — Excite CEO George Bell turned them down because the search results were too good and users would leave the site too quickly

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 18, 2026

In 1975, Pet Rock creator Gary Dahl packaged ordinary Rosarito Beach stones in a cardboard carrier with a 32-page training manual and sold 1.5 million units at $3.95 each in six months — the joke product made him a millionaire before Christmas and was forgotten by Easter

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 18, 2026

7 quiet habits of people who can disagree in a meeting without making anyone feel attacked

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 18, 2026

People who go quiet in group conversations aren’t always shy — some are tracking too many social cues at once to find a clean entry point

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 18, 2026

Sales

When Tupperware’s airtight containers sat unsold on hardware store shelves, a single mother named Brownie Wise moved them into living rooms and turned housewives into the sales force that made the brand famous

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 17, 2026

8 quiet signs someone has emotionally outgrown a friendship long before they’ve said anything about it

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 17, 2026

Finance

Henry Ford raised factory wages to $5 a day in January 1914 — more than double the going rate — and the line outside the Highland Park plant grew so large that Detroit police used fire hoses in 12-degree weather to disperse 10,000 job seekers

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

Growth

When James Dyson finished prototype 5,127 of his bagless vacuum in 1983, he had spent five years and was more than $1 million in debt — every major manufacturer rejected the design because the replacement-bag market was worth hundreds of millions a year

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

All Articles by Lauren Alexander

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

When BlackBerry controlled nearly half of the US smartphone market, its leaders saw the iPhone’s flaws clearly — and still missed the shift that would erase its lead

Focused businesswoman making phone call at her desk in a modern office.

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

Before Zappos sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009, CEO Tony Hsieh offered every new hire $2,000 to quit after their first week of training — roughly two percent took the money, and Hsieh said the ones who stayed were worth the cost of the ones who left

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

When Listerine launched as a mouthwash in 1920, the word ‘halitosis’ had been buried in a medical journal for 47 years — Lambert Pharmacal pulled it out, put it on streetcar posters, and grew annual revenue from $115,000 to $8 million in seven years

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

In 1964, a 25-year-old Phil Knight sold Japanese running shoes out of the trunk of his green Plymouth Valiant at high school track meets across the Pacific Northwest — the $8,000 in first-year sales became the foundation of what is now Nike

A classic Canon camera laying on a textured outdoor surface in Istanbul.

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

When Kodak engineer Steven Sasson built the first digital camera in 1975, it weighed eight pounds, took 23 seconds to capture a black-and-white image, and executives told him to bury the project because film was the company’s profit engine

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

When Hershey’s founder Milton Hershey tried to board the Titanic in April 1912, he paid a $300 deposit on a stateroom but cancelled at the last minute for a business meeting — the check he wrote still exists in the company archives, never cashed

A professional meeting in a modern office with a couple shaking hands with a businessman.

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

When IBM let Microsoft keep the licensing rights to MS-DOS in their 1980 contract, the lawyers thought the operating system was a throwaway detail — that single clause routed roughly $100 billion in eventual value away from IBM over the next 15 years

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 15, 2026

In 1943, Lockheed engineer Kelly Johnson built the P-80 fighter jet in 143 days using a team of 23 engineers working inside a rented circus tent next to a plastics factory — the operating rules he scribbled became the 14 principles still taught in MBA programs as Skunk Works

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 15, 2026

Lauren Alexander Articles

Latest Articles

Before Google indexed the web, Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell their PageRank algorithm to Excite in 1999 for $1 million, then dropped the price to $750,000 — Excite CEO George Bell turned them down because the search results were too good and users would leave the site too quickly

In 1975, Pet Rock creator Gary Dahl packaged ordinary Rosarito Beach stones in a cardboard carrier with a 32-page training manual and sold 1.5 million units at $3.95 each in six months — the joke product made him a millionaire before Christmas and was forgotten by Easter

7 quiet habits of people who can disagree in a meeting without making anyone feel attacked

People who go quiet in group conversations aren’t always shy — some are tracking too many social cues at once to find a clean entry point

When Tupperware’s airtight containers sat unsold on hardware store shelves, a single mother named Brownie Wise moved them into living rooms and turned housewives into the sales force that made the brand famous

8 quiet signs someone has emotionally outgrown a friendship long before they’ve said anything about it

Henry Ford raised factory wages to $5 a day in January 1914 — more than double the going rate — and the line outside the Highland Park plant grew so large that Detroit police used fire hoses in 12-degree weather to disperse 10,000 job seekers

When James Dyson finished prototype 5,127 of his bagless vacuum in 1983, he had spent five years and was more than $1 million in debt — every major manufacturer rejected the design because the replacement-bag market was worth hundreds of millions a year

All Articles by Lauren Alexander

When BlackBerry controlled nearly half of the US smartphone market, its leaders saw the iPhone’s flaws clearly — and still missed the shift that would erase its lead

Before Zappos sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009, CEO Tony Hsieh offered every new hire $2,000 to quit after their first week of training — roughly two percent took the money, and Hsieh said the ones who stayed were worth the cost of the ones who left

When Listerine launched as a mouthwash in 1920, the word ‘halitosis’ had been buried in a medical journal for 47 years — Lambert Pharmacal pulled it out, put it on streetcar posters, and grew annual revenue from $115,000 to $8 million in seven years

In 1964, a 25-year-old Phil Knight sold Japanese running shoes out of the trunk of his green Plymouth Valiant at high school track meets across the Pacific Northwest — the $8,000 in first-year sales became the foundation of what is now Nike

When Kodak engineer Steven Sasson built the first digital camera in 1975, it weighed eight pounds, took 23 seconds to capture a black-and-white image, and executives told him to bury the project because film was the company’s profit engine

When Hershey’s founder Milton Hershey tried to board the Titanic in April 1912, he paid a $300 deposit on a stateroom but cancelled at the last minute for a business meeting — the check he wrote still exists in the company archives, never cashed

When IBM let Microsoft keep the licensing rights to MS-DOS in their 1980 contract, the lawyers thought the operating system was a throwaway detail — that single clause routed roughly $100 billion in eventual value away from IBM over the next 15 years

In 1943, Lockheed engineer Kelly Johnson built the P-80 fighter jet in 143 days using a team of 23 engineers working inside a rented circus tent next to a plastics factory — the operating rules he scribbled became the 14 principles still taught in MBA programs as Skunk Works

In 1998, Pixar nearly lost Toy Story 2 after a delete command erased months of work — and a maternity-leave backup became the only thing that saved it

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Lauren Alexander Articles

Latest Articles

Before Google indexed the web, Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell their PageRank algorithm to Excite in 1999 for $1 million, then dropped the price to $750,000 — Excite CEO George Bell turned them down because the search results were too good and users would leave the site too quickly

In 1975, Pet Rock creator Gary Dahl packaged ordinary Rosarito Beach stones in a cardboard carrier with a 32-page training manual and sold 1.5 million units at $3.95 each in six months — the joke product made him a millionaire before Christmas and was forgotten by Easter

7 quiet habits of people who can disagree in a meeting without making anyone feel attacked

People who go quiet in group conversations aren’t always shy — some are tracking too many social cues at once to find a clean entry point

When Tupperware’s airtight containers sat unsold on hardware store shelves, a single mother named Brownie Wise moved them into living rooms and turned housewives into the sales force that made the brand famous

8 quiet signs someone has emotionally outgrown a friendship long before they’ve said anything about it

Henry Ford raised factory wages to $5 a day in January 1914 — more than double the going rate — and the line outside the Highland Park plant grew so large that Detroit police used fire hoses in 12-degree weather to disperse 10,000 job seekers

When James Dyson finished prototype 5,127 of his bagless vacuum in 1983, he had spent five years and was more than $1 million in debt — every major manufacturer rejected the design because the replacement-bag market was worth hundreds of millions a year

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All Articles by Lauren Alexander

When BlackBerry controlled nearly half of the US smartphone market, its leaders saw the iPhone’s flaws clearly — and still missed the shift that would erase its lead

Before Zappos sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009, CEO Tony Hsieh offered every new hire $2,000 to quit after their first week of training — roughly two percent took the money, and Hsieh said the ones who stayed were worth the cost of the ones who left

When Listerine launched as a mouthwash in 1920, the word ‘halitosis’ had been buried in a medical journal for 47 years — Lambert Pharmacal pulled it out, put it on streetcar posters, and grew annual revenue from $115,000 to $8 million in seven years

In 1964, a 25-year-old Phil Knight sold Japanese running shoes out of the trunk of his green Plymouth Valiant at high school track meets across the Pacific Northwest — the $8,000 in first-year sales became the foundation of what is now Nike

When Kodak engineer Steven Sasson built the first digital camera in 1975, it weighed eight pounds, took 23 seconds to capture a black-and-white image, and executives told him to bury the project because film was the company’s profit engine

When Hershey’s founder Milton Hershey tried to board the Titanic in April 1912, he paid a $300 deposit on a stateroom but cancelled at the last minute for a business meeting — the check he wrote still exists in the company archives, never cashed

When IBM let Microsoft keep the licensing rights to MS-DOS in their 1980 contract, the lawyers thought the operating system was a throwaway detail — that single clause routed roughly $100 billion in eventual value away from IBM over the next 15 years

In 1943, Lockheed engineer Kelly Johnson built the P-80 fighter jet in 143 days using a team of 23 engineers working inside a rented circus tent next to a plastics factory — the operating rules he scribbled became the 14 principles still taught in MBA programs as Skunk Works

In 1998, Pixar nearly lost Toy Story 2 after a delete command erased months of work — and a maternity-leave backup became the only thing that saved it