The jade nobody believed in

Bian He found a piece of jade in the mountains of Chu and presented it to King Li. The king's jeweller said it was a rock. The king had his left foot cut off.

When King Wu took the throne, Bian He brought the stone again. Again the jeweller said rock. The king had his right foot cut off.

When King Wen came to power, Bian He lay at the foot of the mountain holding the stone and wept, for three days and three nights, until the tears ran dry and blood came.

The king sent someone to ask why he was crying. Many people have lost both feet in this country, the messenger said. Is it not excessive?

Bian He said: what I grieve is not the feet. I grieve that a treasure is called a rock and an honest man is called a liar.

They cut the stone open. It was jade. They named it after him.

The part that stings is the cost of being early. Being right is not the same as being believed, and the gap can run for years.

If you know something is valuable and nobody will look at it, the practical work is not more conviction. It's finding a way to make it visible that costs you less than your feet.

MOJOWAY's intake is one of those cheap tests. You describe what you have in twenty minutes and see how it lands, before you spend the decade.