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History is littered with business flops, some of which died and others which led the way to colossal successes. Here are five examples of failures that morphed into hits:

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Viagra <br/> Before it put a spring in Bob Dole’s step, Viagra was intended for use in treating cardiovascular problems such as angina. The accidental side effect: boosting blood flow to the penis. Viagra never made it as a heart medicine, but it is now one of the most popular treatments in the world for erectile dysfunction, generating more than $2-billion (U.S.) in sales for Pfizer Inc. last year.

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Corn flakes <br/> This ubiquitous breakfast cereal was born of a cooking mishap. One day in 1894, Will Keith Kellogg accidentally left wheat boiling on the stove. It congealed into paste. He and his brother, John Harvey, rolled out the paste, cut it, toasted it – and Corn Flakes were born.Paul Sancya/The Associated Press

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Gorilla glass <br/> It’s 1952, and the experiment flopped. Don Stookey, a chemist at Corning Glass Works placed a glass sample inside a furnace and set the temperature to 600 C. But a wonky instrument allowed temperatures to hit 900 degrees. The result: a light-weight, opaque glass that, when it fell on the floor, did not break. That durability, at that time, limited its appeal. But flash forward to 2007 and suddenly a new use for gorilla glass emerges: as screens on iPhones, creating blockbuster sales for Corning.The Associated Press

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Post-it notes <br/> It was meant to be an industrial-strength adhesive, and failed because it wasn’t all that sticky and could be peeled away easily. But that weakness, noted inventor Spencer Silver at 3M in the late 1960s, could be an advantage. It left no residue and was removable – perfect to mark hymns as a bookmark. Thus sticky notes were born.Seth Perlman/The Associated Press

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Potato chips <br/> Blame a picky diner for the world’s most addictive junk food. Flash back to 1853, when a diner in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., repeatedly sent back his fried potatoes, complaining they were soggy. Chef George Crum (or, by some accounts, his wife) sliced the spuds more thinly, coated them in hot grease and covered them in ludicrous amounts of salt. The resulting “Saratoga Chips” became a popular item in town and eventually throughout New England and the world (with another innovation landing in the 1920s, when Laura Scudder wrapped them in waxed paper bags to keep them fresh).

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