Kodak and the Digital Camera
Featuring Steve Sasson
In 1975, a 24-year-old Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson built the first digital camera from off-the-shelf parts and a Super 8 housing. It weighed eight pounds and shot a 0.01-megapixel black-and-white image. He showed it to management, and the response was essentially: clever, now put it away. Thirty-seven years later, Kodak filed for bankruptcy in a market it had personally invented, arriving as a follower behind Canon, Sony, and others.
What makes this case sting is that Kodak wasn't blind. Internal research saw the shift coming, executives read the reports, and the company even built digital products. For founders and operators, it sharpens the most uncomfortable kind of strategic decision: what to do about a future you can clearly see but whose arrival threatens the very profits funding you today, when every quarterly incentive points away from the move that would save you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Kodak digital camera case about?
It is about how Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 yet filed for bankruptcy in 2012 in a market it had personally created. A 24-year-old Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson built it from off-the-shelf parts, and management essentially told him to put it away. Kodak arrived in digital as a follower behind Canon, Sony, and others despite seeing the shift coming.
Who invented the first digital camera and when?
Steve Sasson, a 24-year-old Kodak engineer, built the first digital camera in 1975 from off-the-shelf parts and a Super 8 housing. It weighed eight pounds and shot a 0.01-megapixel black-and-white image. When he showed it to management, the response was essentially to put it away.
Why did Kodak fail at digital photography despite inventing it?
Kodak failed not from blindness but because digital photography threatened the film profits that funded the company, and every quarterly incentive pointed away from the move that would save it. Internal research saw the shift coming and executives read the reports, yet the company hesitated. It eventually arrived in digital as a follower and filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
What can founders learn from Kodak and the digital camera?
The lesson is what to do about a future you can clearly see but whose arrival threatens the very profits funding you today, when short-term incentives push against the move that would save you. Kodak shows how seeing the future is not enough if you cannot act on it. CaseBook turns this into a move you apply to your own company, with an AI coach that reads your answer.