It's A Creator's World, And The Consumer's Just Live In It.
I've been coming up with product and service ideas as long as I can remember. Notebooks full of them. Ideas are easy, taking a product to market is another thing all together.
The Score Card (1995)
The first product that I conceived, created and took to market. I sold several thousands of dollars worth of product, but still lost money on the enterprise.
The products helped multimedia developers using Macromedia Director stay organized. It was particularly helpful in team environments.
The market was too small, and subsequent versions of the software fixed issues that my product addressed.
The products helped multimedia developers using Macromedia Director stay organized. It was particularly helpful in team environments.
The market was too small, and subsequent versions of the software fixed issues that my product addressed.
Citizen Shield (1998)
In response to a series of mass shootings in schools and restaurants, a friend of mind wanted to create a product that could help protect people in these extreme circumstances. I partnered with him and created an e-commerce website to sell the products.
Our solutions was to create bullet resistant inserts that could be added to briefcases and school backpacks to turn something you carry with you everyday into a lifesaving shield. It was the first product of it's kind, and we got a fair amount of press out of it, but the product did not sell well.
It was a good product and the margins were healthy, but big box retailers were not interested in it, and we didn't have the money to go after the thousands of mom and pop gun and spy shops.
The business was not well funded, and we certainly could have used more advertising dollars, but it was a hard sell. Most people don't want to think they will ever be in that situation, and statistically they are correct to think that, but the security market is huge and we thought we could get a piece of it.
Our solutions was to create bullet resistant inserts that could be added to briefcases and school backpacks to turn something you carry with you everyday into a lifesaving shield. It was the first product of it's kind, and we got a fair amount of press out of it, but the product did not sell well.
It was a good product and the margins were healthy, but big box retailers were not interested in it, and we didn't have the money to go after the thousands of mom and pop gun and spy shops.
The business was not well funded, and we certainly could have used more advertising dollars, but it was a hard sell. Most people don't want to think they will ever be in that situation, and statistically they are correct to think that, but the security market is huge and we thought we could get a piece of it.
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The business was also probably ahead of it's time. Since then, a number of specialty bag makers have added similar products to their lines, but they have the advantage of a distribution network already in place.
It's not a business idea that I would have had on my own, but I was glad to be able to help a friend get his idea to market. |
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Jumpgate Toys (1999)
I was one of a small team that helped a couple of entrepreneurs create a website that they sold 6 months later for 3 million dollars. They paid back their investors handsomely and were looking for other opportunities. A friend had the idea to create a website where kids could come and create custom toys, but didn't know how to do it. Today it would be done with 3D printers, but at the time we conceived of a modular action figure system. We pitched it and were told that it was a good idea, but not big enough. 3D games were relatively new and I was fascinated by hackers who were creating real-time rendered short films by hacking game engines and adding new audio. This new medium was dubbed Machinema, cinema rendered real-time on a machine.
The pitch we came back with was big... ridiculously big. The internet bubble was at it's height and the insane seemed normal.
The pitch we came back with was big... ridiculously big. The internet bubble was at it's height and the insane seemed normal.
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We would create a system where a kid could come to the website, design a custom character, buy a physical action figure which we would make and ship, but they could also download the character and it would star in video games that he could buy and play... but that's not all... once the game engine was installed on the kids machine, they buy a machinema series that played like a Saturday morning cartoon, but starred their custom designed character.
They loved it. They funded six weeks of development, and in that time I created a flash based website where you could design a character and download it, a playable 3D game demo, and a simple machinema scene using the game assets. My partner created the business plan, did a ton of research, started outlining patentable features, and worked on the pitch. We started doing pitches and raised $130,000 in a couple weeks. That gave us the money to start developing content, hiring contractors and working with patent attorneys. During that time the internet bubble burst and any business based on the internet was poison. We couldn't raise any more money and the business fizzled. |
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It was too big of an idea, also ahead of it's time, but it was a lot of fun to work on.
Solid Memories (2005)
A partner and I purchased a 3D printing system and launched a custom gift company.
I created the online presence, a front-end and back-end custom ordering system that allowed user upload photos to be turned into 3D reliefs, and software that turned 2D photos into three dimensional bas relief objects.
My partner focused on the physical fulfillment of the custom products. We made it to market, sold some product, but there were a lot of problems with my 2Dto3D software, creating the 3D objects, and we couldn't get a high enough margin to sell through retail market.
This was in the early days of 3D printing and the cost of materials were at a premium, the process involved a lot of manual labor, and was very prone to errors. We rushed to market and didn't solve some fundamental development issues before we ran out of money.
Underfunded and ahead of it's time again... starting to see a patten here?
I created the online presence, a front-end and back-end custom ordering system that allowed user upload photos to be turned into 3D reliefs, and software that turned 2D photos into three dimensional bas relief objects.
My partner focused on the physical fulfillment of the custom products. We made it to market, sold some product, but there were a lot of problems with my 2Dto3D software, creating the 3D objects, and we couldn't get a high enough margin to sell through retail market.
This was in the early days of 3D printing and the cost of materials were at a premium, the process involved a lot of manual labor, and was very prone to errors. We rushed to market and didn't solve some fundamental development issues before we ran out of money.
Underfunded and ahead of it's time again... starting to see a patten here?