Reflecting on the successes
Brent Thomas loves mountain biking as well as road biking and even commuting to work on his bicycle. Their passion for cycling drove him to design an item that could help make biking more secure.
In June Thomas founded BikeWrappers LLC. It is a business that sells reflective wraps that cover the tubes of bicycles, which makes them noticeable to motorists in the evening. Wrappers are removable and can be reversible (with an attractive pattern on the opposite side to allow for daytime viewing). The company is based in San Francisco and sells BikeWrappers for $45 each set.
Thomas has been employed as a business development expert at an Internet advertising firm, creating the prototypes using his own machine. He located a supplier and has started selling them on the internet. He also has started making a collection of dog-friendly products known as DogWrappers designed to help dogs be more visible in the dark.
While the business isn't yet profitable, Thomas says he hopes to make it his full-time occupation soon.
Ride the wave of success
Colin Pyle had a degree in Spanish and worked in his father's construction firm However, he'd always wanted to create his own company. He was not sure what to do, but.
"I did not have any experience in design or prior experience in business," he said.
Pyle decided to not let this stop him. He launched the San Francisco company, Golden Hour to market the product he invented known as"the Wrist Shot, the camera which is a wristband and is suitable in any situation where you'll need hands free to take photographs. For example, when surfing.
"If you've ever tried to do a camera-surfing and you've realized that it's a challenge. It is essential to have full control of your hands and arms all the time and you're not carrying any pockets, and you're likely to lose your camera in the event of a wipeout," Pyle said.
Pyle was attracted. He dismantled the leash on his surfboard and sketched up the idea using tape and construction paper.
"Then I visited a friend of mine who's a fashion stylist; we made use of her sewing machine that was industrial to build the initial model," Pyle said. "It was a bit clunky but it was a great way to test the idea and it was a success. We then made several rounds of changes in streamlining and changing to the size."
With the aid of $20,000, Pyle's business was founded. He led the company through every step of the process and even traveled to China to find a manufacturing facility.
Pyle who's 31 is expecting Golden Hour to be his full-time occupation by the year 2011.
Mother of invention
As a mother of four kids, Karen Racer knows a thing or two about morning sickness.
When she learned that a popular remedy is the scent of citrus, the designer created an item to aid women suffering from morning sickness, even in the absence of citrus to be seen.
Her creation, dubbed Morning Sickness Soothers is a disposable nose clip that is available with four fragrances: lemon spearmint, peppermint, and orange. They are available at $14.95 for a set of 12. The invention she invented recently was granted a patent.
So so far, Racer says, she has made investments of anywhere between $75,000 and $50,000 into the company located at Teaneck, N.J.
"The most challenging part in bringing the product into the market has been to educate the general public," said Racer. "I've taken on the role of my own PR and marketing my product through social media sites like LinkedIn, Helpareporter.com, Facebook, and Twitter."
Bright future
Micaela Birmingham had just $5,000 to establish her own business, City Mum, which sells a sunshade she created to fit baby strollers.
"After other parents began to inquire about where they could find a fashionable color like my own, I re-created the design I had created in my kitchen from dishcloth, honed it, and then made this," Birmingham said.
Birmingham was forced to think outside the box when she was trying to find the right manufacturing facility. Birmingham needed a small, flexible facility that could take small orders initially and found the factory in NYC's Garment District.
The company has grown into a profitable business, she claims and the CityShade sells around the globe.
Cool idea!
Jamie Burke worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, where she was responsible for working to tackle the issue of obesity in adolescents. She's since brought her knowledge into the realm of small businesses by creating clothing known as Cool Shapes. They're shorts with a contour with a chilling gel pack. Cold packs are pressed onto the fat-laden regions.
Her sibling, Lark MacPhail has invested $65K in the company named FreezeAwayFat.
"It makes use of the technique that uses cooling brown fat to decrease white cells and eliminate problematic areas that are difficult to get rid of," said Burke.
The sisters depended on their own abilities in the beginning and reached out to their families and friends to help get the company off the ground.
"We have been extremely fortunate to have a group of family and friends that are part of the legal sciences, business, scientific and social media communities," Burke said.
The most difficult part of the entire process was finding a local fabric manufacturer and a source of fabrics.
"Everywhere we went, we were advised to stay in the U.S. But, we were determined to have the item manufactured by America. the U.S.A.," her sister explained. "This led to a nearly four-month delay while we searched for a full-service operation (pattern making and grading, as well as sewing) to cooperate together with us."