Wow, it basically reads like one of dozens of &#x27;creative person is successful, not good with their money or the business parts&#x27; stories, just with the Wright brothers.<p>I mean, sure, if establishing a monopoly and aiming for maximum monetary extraction from a market is the primary goal - which it seems to be for many people (here and otherwise) - then yeah, they &quot;blew it&quot; so to speak. Still, first in flight, history remembers this, and all pilots must speak English if they expect to land in the United States and most well-to-do nations. Oh, and this tidbit:<p>&gt;<i>In October 1915 Orville sold the Wright Company to a group of investors for a reported $1.5 million.</i><p>...a quick calculation makes it look like in today&#x27;s value that&#x27;d be around $35 million. Might not sound like a lot for the Forbes business crowd, but that&#x27;s a good chunk of change in my opinion.<p>Their secrecy surely didn&#x27;t help them, but trying to apply that to today&#x27;s environment is just stupid. The likelihood of being &#x27;ripped off&#x27; is more of a concern now than ever - if the idea can make it to China, it can be made in China without recourse. Try playing whack-a-mole with lawsuits while trying to do business as the originator? Sounds like a terrible business plan.<p>I&#x27;m going to be writing an essay about &#x27;Why I keep secrets as a struggling inventor&#x27; soon, and will submit it here for discussion. In it will be one design from years ago that I feel comfortable showing in public. Grand scheme of things I know I have to pay for protection in the patent game, but even with the patent, there are still risk factors in the global scene.