Nico Prins, Author at Tweak Your Biz

Business

Reed Hastings built Netflix’s founding myth around a $40 Blockbuster late fee for Apollo 13, then three years later flew to Dallas to offer Blockbuster his DVD-by-mail service for $50 million and was laughed out of the conference room

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 19, 2026

Harley-Davidson filed to trademark the specific sound of its V-twin engine in 1994 — the potato-potato-potato rumble — and spent six years and millions in legal fees defending the application before withdrawing it in 2000 when Japanese rivals proved they could replicate the cadence

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 19, 2026

The quiet reason some high performers underplay their wins has less to do with humility than with a long-running habit of managing other people’s reactions to their success

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 19, 2026

In 1995, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s first sale was a broken laser pointer that went for $14.83 — when he emailed the buyer asking if he understood the item was broken, the buyer replied that he collected broken laser pointers, and Omidyar realized any object had a market if the buyers could find each other

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 19, 2026

Finance

In October 1907, J.P. Morgan locked New York’s top bankers inside his Madison Avenue library and refused to unlock the door until they pledged $25 million to stop a run on the Trust Company of America — the all-night meeting ended at 4:45 a.m. and led directly to the creation of the Federal Reserve six years later

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 18, 2026

Growth

When WD-40 launched in 1953, the formula was the 40th attempt to create a water displacement spray for the Atlas missile program — the chemists never patented it because filing would have required disclosing the recipe, and the unpatented formula has remained a trade secret for 73 years

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 18, 2026

Management

Sam Walton flew his own single-engine Cessna across rural Arkansas in the 1960s to scout store locations from 500 feet, counting cars in competitors’ parking lots with a notepad on his knee — the practice continued until Walmart had 276 stores and he could no longer fly to all of them

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 18, 2026

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

All Articles by Nico Prins

Cardboard boxes with lids arranged on a sunlit bed, casting shadows.

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

African American man and Arabic woman shaking hands at a desk in a modern office.

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 17, 2026

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

Close-up of textile factory workers operating sewing machines in an industrial setting.

Tweak Your Biz Editorial Team June 16, 2026

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

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

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

Nico Prins Articles

Latest Articles

Reed Hastings built Netflix’s founding myth around a $40 Blockbuster late fee for Apollo 13, then three years later flew to Dallas to offer Blockbuster his DVD-by-mail service for $50 million and was laughed out of the conference room

Harley-Davidson filed to trademark the specific sound of its V-twin engine in 1994 — the potato-potato-potato rumble — and spent six years and millions in legal fees defending the application before withdrawing it in 2000 when Japanese rivals proved they could replicate the cadence

The quiet reason some high performers underplay their wins has less to do with humility than with a long-running habit of managing other people’s reactions to their success

When WD-40 launched in 1953, the formula was the 40th attempt to create a water displacement spray for the Atlas missile program — the chemists never patented it because filing would have required disclosing the recipe, and the unpatented formula has remained a trade secret for 73 years

Sam Walton flew his own single-engine Cessna across rural Arkansas in the 1960s to scout store locations from 500 feet, counting cars in competitors’ parking lots with a notepad on his knee — the practice continued until Walmart had 276 stores and he could no longer fly to all of them

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

All Articles by Nico Prins

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

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

Sign For Our Newsletter To Get Actionable Business Advice

Nico Prins Articles

Latest Articles

Reed Hastings built Netflix’s founding myth around a $40 Blockbuster late fee for Apollo 13, then three years later flew to Dallas to offer Blockbuster his DVD-by-mail service for $50 million and was laughed out of the conference room

Harley-Davidson filed to trademark the specific sound of its V-twin engine in 1994 — the potato-potato-potato rumble — and spent six years and millions in legal fees defending the application before withdrawing it in 2000 when Japanese rivals proved they could replicate the cadence

The quiet reason some high performers underplay their wins has less to do with humility than with a long-running habit of managing other people’s reactions to their success

When WD-40 launched in 1953, the formula was the 40th attempt to create a water displacement spray for the Atlas missile program — the chemists never patented it because filing would have required disclosing the recipe, and the unpatented formula has remained a trade secret for 73 years

Sam Walton flew his own single-engine Cessna across rural Arkansas in the 1960s to scout store locations from 500 feet, counting cars in competitors’ parking lots with a notepad on his knee — the practice continued until Walmart had 276 stores and he could no longer fly to all of them

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

Signup for the newsletter

All Articles by Nico Prins

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

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