Tom Freyberg’s Post

WD40, the story of failure and innovation. A #throwbackthursday to the now notorious Fuckup Nights we hosted in Amsterdam a couple of weeks back. Failure is rarely talked about, let alone celebrated. It was a rare evening of personal storytelling, with lessons and takeaways for everyone. I opened up with the short (and admittedly random) history of WD40: - In 1953 a fledgling start-up, the Rocket Chemical Company, set out to create a new line of rust-prevention, solvents and degreasers - Working in a small San Diego lab, the small team had 39 failures - 39 times of getting it wrong; 39 times of thinking it will never work - Continuing relentlessly, on the 40th attempt, the formula was successful - With water displacement (WD) properties, the name was set: WD40 - While originally designed for missile outer skins, people began using the product at home - In 1958 the product made its first appearance on store shelves - Since then, it's been so successful it's estimated that at one stage, four out of every five US homes have a can. Interestingly, whenever I mentioned this random story to colleagues, whether from the Netherlands, UK, Denmark or US, they recognised the brand. Following an introduction from Victoria Edwards, we had three superb stories from Angela MacOscar, Reinhard Huebner and Matt Simpson. A fitting evening following the Aquatech Innovation Forum. Thanks again to the evening's sponsors FIDO Tech and Aquacycl. Ironically nearly a f**K up with the event oversubscribed! A personal apology to anyone who couldn’t get in – I’ve reached out to most of you. We're looking to run this again in the future - can you recommend any speakers and stories to share? Tag and comment below 👇 Auditions start soon 😅 #water #innovation #failure #change #climatechange #climatetech