The Soup Maker
Once upon a time, there was a soup maker. The soup maker is very passionate about a specific soup and wanted to share the recipe with as many people as possible. But, The soup maker was living in a small village in a remote corner of the forest that no one knew of.
Due to this, only people knew about his soup. The soup maker also wanted investment to perfect the soup. The soup maker decided to contact the money people at a famous village named Buttonwood. One of the money people was happy to give money to the soup maker, so soup maker can focus on perfecting the soup.
After the soup maker improved the soup, they decided to write the recipe and distribute copies of the recipe to anyone who wanted. The soup maker encouraged everyone to make more copies of the recipe and distribute it to as many as possible. The soup maker is indeed very passionate about the soup.
Over a period of time, some people started suggesting modifications to the soup recipe. The soup maker was happy to incorporate these suggestions as these changes were making the soup even more awesome.
Hundreds of villages and thousands of people started enjoying the soup. The soup maker went to to village gatherings and was often asked to talk to the attendees from a special tree top. This is a honor usually reserved to village heads and people that sponsor goats and other expensive food items for the gathering.
Everything was going great, but the soup maker was feeling that they should figure out how to make more money. The soup maker asked the money person for ideas. The money person said the current recipe distribution is leaving money on the table. The money person said that other cooks and restaurants are profiting from soup maker’s soup recipe. The money person warned about threat of a new restaurant chain from Amazon rainforest. The money person recommended that the soup maker visit a wise man named Mr Affero up in the mountains. Mr Affero was in exile for several years due to some prior controversies but recently came back.
The soup maker took this recommendation and decided to make the trip up the mountains to visit Mr Affero . After niceties, Mr Affero got to the business. He said for you to monetize your amazing creation, you need to stop other people from profiting from it. You still want them to make your soup, but you must insist that they publish any changes to the recipes or the methods they make. For ex: if they use a ladle that is different than the one your used, they must publish the ladle specifications for anyone to see. The soup maker thought this is a reasonable approach. The soup maker also thought this will make them very rich because anyone who refuses to publish modified recipes would have to pay them.
After the meeting, the soup maker climbed up a tree and shouted about the changes to soup maker’s recipe distribution requirements. Some of the forest nomads who spend all day spreading rumors and arguing with each other heard it. This news spread fast among villages by these nomads. These nomads ran from village to village shouting how this change signals end of the world and how the soup maker has become greedy.
All this controversy caused the village heads to worry about the implications of continuing to make this soup in their villages. They felt that the risk of a villager not following these new requirements is very high. They also did not have a good impression of anything to do with Mr Affero. They ordered the villagers to stop making this soup and instead make soup from other recipes. Not all village heads made this decision at the same time, but a majority of them took this decision over the next 2 years.
Over time, the soup maker started hearing less about their soup. Also, less number of people were making suggestions to improve the soup. After a few years, everyone forgot about the soup and the soup maker started getting less consulting opportunities. The soup maker decided to join a local restaurant and became a cook.
After few decades, the soup maker went to a camp fire event for retired people. Many other cooks from the past have come to this camp fire event. The soup maker asked them how they are doing. They all looked sad and said the restaurant chain from the Amazon rain forest has made it impossible to make any money from their recipes. Whenever they published their recipe and it became popular, the chain restaurant started adding it to their menu. They said soup maker was smart to follow the advice of Mr Affero. The soup maker laughed.
The end.
