I am looking for examples of recently (last 20 years, say) published math papers such that:

• the results/examples were fairly trivial (by this I mean anyone with the definitions and standard background in the area of research could have thought of them, but never took the time to do it, or it simply never occurred to them); and yet
• the questions posed in the papers, which were motivated by the results, lead to future research and solutions which were non-trivial.

These should not be foundational papers in the sense that they introduced an entirely new field. Assume those papers published long ago, with books written on the subjects, etc.

I guess this question stems from a fear that my papers fit this mold. The questions (often my own) I am unable to answer seem far more intriguing than what's actually in my papers...