Failure is much more exciting than success. You ask why it failed, what to do to make it work, and if there's a way to go much faster. As I started my quest to make a better vacuum cleaner, I had to sign over my house and everything I owned for a loan. I'm grateful because I own 100% of the equity.
You changed the future of the vacuum cleaner.
The proof that market research doesn't work is that politicians rely entirely on it.
One of your obsessions is to do better than the market.
We make about 1.55 billion electric motors a year. I tried an electric car; it was soul-destroying and cost us six or seven hundred million euros.
My God, you're still alive.
Right, we're recording with new gear – a new headphone. It's pretty cool. Do you like them?
No, I do, of course I like them.
So I do like them. We're trying those Dyson headphones for this recording with you, Sir James Dyson. Who are you, sir? I think this is the first time I've recorded with a knight.
That's right, I'm a knight. They touch a sword on both shoulders – a big medieval sword; it's quite frightening. That was about ten years ago.
How does it feel to be a knight?
About the same as not being a knight.
And what rights or duties do you have?
None. I think you can be buried in St. Paul's Cathedral – that's about the only benefit.
Don't say too much in France that you're a knight. They do specific things to monarchs here.
I'm so happy to have you on Generation Yourself. Can I call you James?
I'm a big fan of Dyson. I use your hair dryer and vacuum every day. You brought a lot of products – what's this one?
This is a styling cream made with mushrooms. It holds your hairstyle, protects hair, and adds shine. I'll demonstrate.
Where will we stop? Food cream? You can't stop me demonstrating.
It disappears into your hands; you just put it through your hair. It's not a conditioner, just a styling cream.
It looks much better. I used to spray varnish-like stuff on my number plates to stop cameras seeing them in my naughty days.
This cream makes hair shiny and glossy without stickiness.
Before we talk about inventions, design, education, and agriculture, would you introduce yourself?
I'm James Dyson, an inventor and entrepreneur. We're sitting here about thirty years after I founded my company. It's gone in a flash.
Why does time feel faster as you get older? I've read about the proportion theory – when you're one year old, going to two is double your age.
I was worried about that, so thank you for the explanation. It's similar going from 30 to 60.
It was an easy journey, right?
No, it was very difficult at first. No venture capitalists or private equity would back me because I was an engineer – they think engineers don't know business. I ended up borrowing money personally from a clearing bank, signing over my house. But I'm grateful because I own all the equity.
Did you share equity with employees?
No, we do bonuses and rewards, but not equity. Hair dryers? They have to pay for them, but they get a discount.
I learned about the wheelbarrow. It all started with that, right?
I did a high-speed landing craft before that. My story starts at the Royal College of Art. I studied classics at school, then went to art school. In the swinging 60s in London, it was liberation of every sort – a great moment to dream big. I designed a building and an industrialist gave me a job designing a high-speed landing craft. We sold it all over the world. That was my first product.
How long did it take from A to Z?
About seven years. Then I left to run my own business – the wheelbarrow with a ball instead of a wheel so it wouldn't sink into soft ground. I also made a boat-launching trolley.
Did it work? Did you sell it?
The wheelbarrow worked well, but I didn't make money. People don't buy tools without motors – they prefer lawnmowers. And we couldn't sell enough through small garden centers. I learned a lot from that failure.
Were you thirty when you ended that? Did you clear all your debt?
I bailed out and left it to the directors. Then I had the idea for the vacuum cleaner. They said if there were a better one, Electrolux or Miele would have done it. I heard that many times.
Was the wheelbarrow a failure?
Commercial failure, yes. But people who bought it loved it. It wasn't my last commercial failure.
How did you live through that? Were you a father?
I was married with two children and a third on the way. I was glad to move on from the seasonal wheelbarrow to the vacuum cleaner – a non-seasonal, recession-proof product everyone needs.
Exactly. I discovered that vacuum cleaner bags are filters, not just depositories. The first dust blocks the holes, so you lose suction immediately. I was annoyed by this con.
It was a good economic model – buy the machine then bags forever. That was close to a billion bags a year in Europe.
Yes, and they were hard to find, expensive, and made of non-biodegradable plastic. I went to a timber yard and saw a giant cyclone that separated dust without clogging. I realized that's what a vacuum cleaner needs.
Invention is about connecting dots.
Yes, it clicks. I rushed home, built a cardboard cyclone, attached it to my vacuum, and it worked. But developing it wasn't easy.
So you were not working anymore?
I was out of the wheelbarrow business, on my own. I used a coach house as my workshop – like Steve Jobs' garage. I built prototypes, making one change at a time. It took about 5,127 prototypes. Failure is exciting because you ask why it failed and what to do next.
Sophie told me your book was almost called 'A Life of Failures'. I regret that title.
The publisher was right to change it, but the word 'failure' is on the cover. At school we're taught failure is bad. But without it, you don't make progress. Every day we test prototypes that fail.
Is there a way to go much faster?
Yes, computational fluid dynamics speeds things up, but you still need real-world testing. You might do fewer prototypes, but it's the same process.
