Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1178IR // #c1178Synthesis

"At first he was laughed at; but his ceaseless importunity at length prevailed, and after four years' dinning of his project into the ears of the great and influential—during which time he lived in poverty—he at length succeeded." "a diver came up with a solid bar of silver in his arms."

— In our words · Source: Self-Help (Samuel Smiles)

[Use when]

Your first attempt failed in public and the original backer won't fund a second.

[Why it matters]

After a failed first voyage the Admiralty refused Phipps another ship. He raised the money privately through a twenty-share company and found the Spanish wreck when a sailor sent a diver after a sea plant.

Filed under situations:When it’s day one and nothing exists yet

More from Self-Help

#c1163"He began by breaking three dozen new earthen pots, the pieces of which he covered with different materials which he had compounded, and…Each full test of an idea is expensive and you are testing one variable at a time. #c1164"he noticed that a certain earth containing silica, which was black before calcination, became white after exposure to the heat of a…You keep seeing a small anomaly in your materials and haven't asked what it would let you make. #c1165"He aimed throughout at the highest excellence, declaring his determination 'to give over manufacturing any article, whatsoever it might…Margins are squeezed and the easy fix is a cheaper version under the same name.

Same situation, different book

#c1514The Esoteric Reserve and the God Above VirtueStructuring multi-stage mastery or initiation curricula, explaining why beginners shouldn't imitate the…From Handbook of Platonism #c1386Chandeliers and no file cabinetYou're spending launch energy on the visible parts of a new venture.From Matriarch #c1385Inclusive means the whole lineYou're extending a product to a new group of customers with a stripped-down version.From Matriarch #c1379The outfits you worry about are the ones that hitYou're about to tone down a piece of work because it feels like too much.From Matriarch