Spite Invention
Much like with Larry David’s Spite Store in the 10th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Almon Brown Strowger’s automatic telephone exchange was also a spite device. He was an undertaker in the late 1800s and the local telephone exchange operator intercepting calls to him and directing them to his competitors. After all, she was the wife of the competing undertaker.
Strowger invented a device that would automate her job and eventually the job of all switchboard operators.
You can check out more on spite stores here:
Now, a common trope of invention and startups is to scratch your own itch. If no one is solving your problem for you, can you solve it and then see if others are having the same issue?
I learned about the invention on an episode of Freakonomics about AI taking jobs: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/new-technologies-always-scare-us-is-a-i-any-different/
However, for those who have been spited and want to create their own competitive offerings, the barriers to entry are being torn down. The resultant differentiator will be how much a product or service things about the expeirence. When everything is a commodity, it’s the story that makes the difference.
