In 1899, a man named John Mast of Lititz, Pennsylvania, filed for a patent for the very mouse trap that immediately springs to mind virtually every time the phrase “a better mousetrap” is uttered. A heavy spring wire swings down when an unknowing rodent nibbles on a cheesy bait (or sometimes peanut butter), breaking the mouse's neck.

It was not the first invention designed to rid homeowners of the pesky critters. But for well over a hundred years, it has remained the gold standard, in spite of the fact that the United States has issued over 4,400 patents for “better mousetraps” in the ensuing years.

The question of whether any of those mousetraps were actually “better” is almost moot. Likely there were several iterations that were better at one aspect or another where it came to attracting, tricking, and dispatching of mice. But in those last nearly 120 years, only about 20 of those 4,400 ever made money. None displaced Mast's design or success.

In 1980, Kronos was not trying to rid companies of pests. Rather, where traditional time clock companies were concerned, Kronos was the pest because, at least metaphorically, the upstart company had built a proverbial better mousetrap with regard to the collection and output of employee time.

Not that Kronos was alone. The advent of the microprocessor, in a decade that would serve as a precursor to the dawning of the Internet era, was in the process of redefining processes and perceptions about the way people and companies performed. Mark Ain and his early compatriots had seen this transformation coming, and had defined an untapped niche within the realm of workforce management where they felt they could use technology to affect a paradigm shift—timekeeping.

With a version of the Kronos Timekeeper clock up and ready for deployment, Ain's young company still faced an uphill battle—one that likely felled many an aspiring mouse-catcher before them. A sizable chasm lay between building a better mousetrap and selling it into profitability.