Designing and selling bullet-shaped, battery-powered bicycle lamps: in 1923 at age 28
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In 1923, Konosuke recognized the huge market potential for an efficient battery-powered bicycle lamp. Although battery-powered bicycle lamps were already in existence, they were generally unreliable and tended to go dead in about three hours.
Determined to overcome these shortcomings, Konosuke spent six months designing a bullet-shaped bicycle lamp that would operate up to 40 hours without a battery change, but wholesalers were skeptical of his claims and refused to market it.
Konosuke decided to bypass the wholesalers and send samples directly to bicycle shop owners, challenging them to test the performance of his lamp for themselves.
This bold move resulted in a flood of orders, and wholesalers who had once refused to even talk to Konosuke were now eager to distribute his product.