WD-40: The Product Named After 40 Tries

WD-40 is named after what it took to invent it: "Water Displacement," 40th formulation. In 1953 a small San Diego outfit called Rocket Chemical set out to stop rust on the skin of the Atlas missile. The team ran formulation after formulation; the first 39 fell short. The 40th worked. The product stayed locked inside aerospace until workers started smuggling cans home, where it loosened bolts, silenced squeaks, and protected tools, and a single-product company built one of the most recognized brands on earth, now sold in over 100 countries.

For founders and operators, this is a case about how to treat the versions that don't work. It sharpens the decision of whether you read iteration as evidence of failure or as the actual mechanism of building something good. What separates disciplined persistence from stubborn thrashing, and how to know which one you're doing on your current version, is the takeaway the case keeps in reserve.