the.com/sticky note
a billion-dollar empire built on glue too weak to do its job
means A small square of paper with a strip of low-tack adhesive on the back, made to be stuck up, peeled off, and restuck as a temporary reminder or marker.
from A genuinely accidental invention: in 1968 a chemist at 3M, Spencer Silver, was trying to make a strong adhesive and instead created a weak, reusable one nobody knew what to do with. Years later a colleague, Art Fry, frustrated with bookmarks falling out of his church hymnal, remembered the failed glue and used it to make a sticky bookmark. 3M launched the result as 'Post-it Notes' in 1980 — which is why 'Post-it' is a trademark, while 'sticky note' is the generic name the rest of us use.
- happy accident
- invented from a failed super-strong adhesive in 1968
- slow start
- sat unused for five years before becoming Post-it
- signature yellow
- chosen because scrap paper nearby happened to be yellow
- reusable trick
- its glue sticks repeatedly without leaving residue
post-it note — invented by spencer silver and art fry at 3m in 1977, became the bestselling office product
super sticky notes — 3m's stronger adhesive version released in 2007, designed to hold on vertical surfaces longer