I remember a story (possibly anecdotal) about an inventor who shows a roman emperor a working steam engine and he basically pays him off and sends him into retirement.
Another account repeated by Pliny the Elder [1] and Roman courtier Petronius [2] has the emperor Tiberius execute an inventor who created a flexible drinking glass and demonstrated it to him. After the inventor successfully tested the vessel and claimed he was the only one who could replicate it, Tiberius had him beheaded because he figured such a material would make gold and silver lose value.
It's hard to sustain innovation when indie hackers are paid up to shut up or basically get beheaded for building an MVP in their dorm room. Founders use to have it rough.
[1] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...