Engineer at Kodak, 1977: "Look - I have invented a filmless camera. It captures pictures digitally. It is going to reshape how we make photos and even film in the future!". Corporate management: "That's cute, but we'll pull a sultan here and rather work on improving celloloid film".

George Lucas, filmmaker, 1973: "I have this idea of a sci-fi space opera version of Akira Kurosawas "The Hidden Fortress". I plan on calling it "Star Wars". Executives at United Artists: "That sounds interesting, but we'll pull a sultan here and ask you to focus on semi-biographic movies like "American Grafitti" instead."

Employee at Blockbuster ca. 1999: "There is this new technology that allows for streaming media rich content instead of having to rent it on VHS tapes and DVDs, and I have set up a server that will allow for Blockbuster to be in the forefront of the market.". Executives: "That is just a niche market. We'll pull a sultan and ask you to restock the Ghostbuster DVDs."