Ask HN: Successful products or companies that when launched, nobody cared?

[iiJDSii]

Can you think of any majorly successful products or companies that launched and were pretty much ignored?

What happened / what did the founders do to eventually get traction?

[orionblastar]

The Commodore 64 received little to no marketing in the USA, yet it is one of the best-selling 8-bit computers in the USA—along with the Commodore Amiga. Both were less expensive than the competition: the C64 was cheaper than the Apple // series, and the Commodore Amiga was more affordable than the Apple Macintosh series. It took off once they lowered the price or offered a more inexpensive model like the C64C or Amiga 500. At least until Windows 3.X and cheap VGA PCs put them out of business.

[not_your_vase]

Listerine. When it was marketed as a floor cleaner solution, people didn't care. Then the manufacturer invented the "disease" called "halitosis", and boom, the boring floor cleaner is now a cool, popular mouthwash.