Standard Oil invented the trust to bypass state ownership limits
When Ohio law barred Standard Oil from owning out-of-state stock, Rockefeller's lawyers invented trust certificates to pool 40 companies under nine trustees.
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDSterling Products bought Bayer's seized trademarks at auction
Sterling Products bought Bayer's seized US trademarks at a government auction, instantly owning a famous drug brand.
Read the caseSupreme built a brand on never restocking
Supreme turned its tiny skate shop into a hype machine by releasing limited items every Thursday and never restocking, making the sellout itself the draw.
Read the caseTexas Instruments sold Bowmar the chips it needed, then out-competed it with them
Bowmar, a calculator assembler, depended on rival TI for chips; TI made its own calculators, undercut prices, and Bowmar went bankrupt.
Read the caseBogota built a metro's capacity out of buses, dedicated lanes and pre-paid stations
Bogota built TransMilenio, a bus rapid transit system with dedicated lanes and pre-paid stations, to deliver metro-like capacity at a fraction of the cost.
Read the caseTrupanion paid vets at checkout so owners only paid their share
Trupanion paid vets directly at checkout so owners only paid their 10% share, removing the cash-flow barrier.
Read the caseGrocery committee broke barcode deadlock by picking one standard
In 1973, a grocery industry committee broke the barcode chicken-and-egg deadlock by selecting a single mandatory standard everyone committed to at once.
Read the casePlan Ceibal closed Uruguay's digital divide with universal school laptops
Uruguay's Plan Ceibal closed the digital divide by giving every student a laptop and free internet as a universal right.
Read the caseVail Resorts sold the winter before it snows
Vail Resorts sold season passes before winter to lock in revenue and skier commitment.
Read the caseVelcro's lawyers made a music video begging people to stop saying 'Velcro'
Velcro's lawyers made a music video asking people to say 'hook and loop' instead of 'velcro' to prevent genericide.
Read the caseRecord Store Day made vinyl a collectible to beat streaming
Record Store Day repositioned vinyl as scarce collectibles, not a music format, to beat streaming.
Read the caseXiaomi turned its phone shortage into flash sales that sold out instantly
Xiaomi, a new phone brand with limited production, turned its genuine scarcity into scheduled flash sales that sold out instantly, generating free press.
Read the caseZippo turned its lifetime repair guarantee into free advertising
Zippo, facing a trust gap for its durable lighters, offered an unconditional lifetime repair guarantee, turning every fix into a brand story.
Read the caseAllegiant flies old planes few hours and tops margins
Allegiant bought cheap old planes and flew them few hours on thin seasonal leisure routes, topping industry margins.
Read the casearXiv let physicists publish first, review later
Paul Ginsparg built arXiv so physicists could self-deposit preprints, letting the community read before peer review.
Read the caseBaedeker put stars on sights so travelers could trust a symbol instead of a hired guide
Karl Baedeker marked verified sights with a star, letting travelers trust a symbol instead of a hired guide.
Read the caseBata ran his factory as tiny firms buying and selling from each other
Bata split his factory into tiny firms that bought and sold from each other, settling profits weekly so each worker's care showed in their unit's bonus.
Read the caseBerlitz's substitute who spoke no English invented immersion teaching
Berlitz's substitute, who spoke no English, taught French by immersion, and students learned faster than with translation.
Read the caseBlue Nile sold diamonds it never owned, buying each stone after the order
Blue Nile sold diamonds it never owned by displaying suppliers' live inventory online and buying each stone only after a customer ordered it.
Read the caseBOOKOFF priced used books by looks and made them a chain
BOOKOFF turned used books into a retail commodity by pricing them on looks alone, letting any clerk buy and any chain replicate the formula.
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