(Extracted from What is Chasing You? On MicroCapClub by Ian Cassel)
At the turn of the 20th century a delicious white flaky fish known as Cod was gaining popularity. The fish was found in the North Atlantic and word quickly spread to the west coast.
The question was, how could you get the cod fish across the country and still keep it fresh?
At first they tried to freeze the fish and ship it by railcar, but when the fish arrived and prepared it was mushy and lacked flavor.
Then someone had the great idea of turning a railcar into a large aquarium and shipping the cod fish alive across the country. The fish would certainly stay fresh. But unfortunately, this was not the case. Even though it was transported alive, the cod was still mushy and tasteless.
Finally someone studied the cod fish and discovered its natural predator was the catfish. They put a few catfish in each tank and shipped cod fish across the country. During the journey the catfish would chase the cod fish. When the cod fish arrived on the west coast and prepared it tasted fresh. In order for the cod fish to be fresh it had to be in an environment of catfish.
… What is chasing you?