IKEA flat-packed furniture after a table wouldn't fit in an employee's car
IKEA's photographer couldn't fit a table in his car, so he sawed off its legs, and IKEA turned flat-packing into its entire business model.
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDInnocent founders let festival cups decide their careers
Innocent Drinks' founders tested smoothie demand by asking festival-goers to toss empty cups into yes/no bins, and quit their jobs when yes won.
Read the caseInstagram founders stripped Burbn to photo sharing, added filters
Instagram's founders cut Burbn down to photo sharing and added a filter, drawing 25,000 downloads on day one.
Read the caseIsrael boosted organ donor consent by giving donors priority for transplants
Israel's 2008 law gave registered donors and their families priority points on the transplant list, boosting family consent from 42% to 62%.
Read the caseItalian merchant cities bought out coastal lords' wrecking rights
Italian maritime republics paid coastal lords to stop looting wrecks, ending ius naufragii.
Read the caseJames Lind tested six scurvy cures side-by-side on matched sailors
James Lind, a naval surgeon, tested six scurvy cures at once on matched pairs of sailors, isolating citrus as the effective one.
Read the caseJames Ritty built a cash register to make theft visible
James Ritty, a saloonkeeper, built a mechanical register that recorded every sale, making theft visible instead of relying on trust.
Read the caseJCDecaux proved subway ads work by making a stranger famous on unsold ads
JCDecaux Spain proved subway ads work by turning an unknown woman's Instagram into a live campaign on its own unsold ad space.
Read the caseJohn Harrison solved longitude with a clock, not a star chart
Self-taught carpenter John Harrison solved longitude by building marine clocks, not star charts.
Read the caseMing court paid frontier grain deliveries in salt licenses
The Ming court paid merchants in salt licenses for frontier grain delivery, turning a cash shortage into a monopoly-backed currency.
Read the caseAssyrian merchants built their own court in Kanesh
Assyrian merchants in Kanesh, 700 miles from home, built their own court from senior peers to enforce contracts and credit.
Read the caseKFC split its secret recipe across two suppliers
KFC keeps its 11-herb recipe secret by having two suppliers each make half the blend, so no single vendor ever holds the full formula.
Read the caseKickstarter made all-or-nothing funding the default for crowdfunding
Kickstarter made all-or-nothing funding the default, so backers only pay if a project hits its full goal, which doubled success rates.
Read the caseKitKat turned a truck heist into a public detective game
KitKat turned a truck heist into a public detective game using real batch codes, turning customers into participants.
Read the caseKnights Templar stopped guarding cash and made it unnecessary to carry
The Knights Templar let pilgrims deposit cash at home and carry a document redeemable at a distant commandery, so no cash traveled the dangerous route.
Read the caseBeef importer tripled orders by framing shortage as exclusive news
A beef importer tripled orders by telling buyers the shortage news was exclusive, not just scarce.
Read the caseTao Huabi found her real product by watching rivals resell her sauce
Tao Huabi found her chili paste was the real draw by watching rivals resell it, then pivoted to selling it alone.
Read the caseLEGO taught braille by encoding it into existing bricks
LEGO adapted its standard brick to teach braille, letting blind and sighted kids play together.
Read the caseLiu Yan segmented grain route to cut losses
Liu Yan, Tang transport commissioner, segmented the grain route into legs with purpose-built boats and portage at Sanmen Gorge, cutting losses to zero.
Read the caseEdward Lloyd's coffee house became Lloyd's of London by posting shipping news
Edward Lloyd kept sailors coming back by posting shipping news on his coffee house wall, which attracted marine underwriters and grew into Lloyd's of London.
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