Gadget Nation. FastPencil Premiere
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Diaperbridge®
Is the Diaperbridge a Bridge Too Far?
Garrett Stackman could be nominated as Dad of the Year. Not only does he change diapers, this 39-year-old likes it. “I like to be involved. There’s an intimacy in doing everything for your baby, even if it smells bad.” And it’s this strange love of diaper changing that gave birth to Garrett’s portable changing station.
The Diaperbridge story started when Garrett and his wife, Lisa, were visiting in Maryland and went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. While there, Lisa took Alex, their three-month-old son, to the bathroom to change his diaper. Finding no place to change him and realizing it was too cold to go out to the car, she changed Alex on the floor. Yuk. Lisa voiced her anger at the situation when she returned to the dining table. “There’s a perfectly nice vanity in there. Can’t someone invent something that can cover up the sink hole?”
“I’m pretty handy,” says Garrett, “so as soon as we returned home, I gathered materials.” He laminated pressboard and a stop hinge so that when the Diaperbridge was unfolded, it made a sturdy platform. Then he attached harnesses for the baby and was ready to test it out. “When we put it over a sink, we realized we were sunk. If the baby grabs the faucets, he or she can get wet—or worse, scalded. And while a baby would be securely affixed to the platform, the platform itself could fall off the counter. The last thing we wanted was a baby getting hurt.” So Garrett made a flip-up panel that covered the faucet, and added additional straps. “I used a 4-point harness to hold the baby in place. Most harness setups are 5-point, but you need the crotch-point open to change a diaper.” Yup, that’s a critical point.
Once they had a viable prototype, Garrett and Lisa searched for plastic manufacturers. Through the Internet, they hooked up with a top plastic guy near their home in Morristown, New Jersey. He designed a mold that can make half a million pieces. They started the patent process and the patent was issued on his wife’s birthday. “I’m an attorney, but I don’t specialize in product safety, so we hired specialized attorneys and a testing firm to make sure the Diaperbridge is approvable and complies with regulations and laws in the U.S.”
The next step was to market the Diaperbridge. Garrett participated in three trade shows and got a handful of orders. “I’m normally a pencil pusher in an office, so I don’t get to hawk wares to people. But at these shows, nobody got by my booth without getting their hand on the Diaperbridge… . It’s exhilarating. I’ll never forget that experience. I spent several days being a bit of a nut, making the most of every opportunity.”
Garrett did get some sobering news while there. “A lot of the big guys said, ‘Sorry, but you have to get this made in China; it’s too expensive.’ I don’t want to do that. It’s hard to coordinate. I have a full-time job as a pharmaceutical corporate lawyer, and my wife is the director of human resources at a hotel. We can’t just take off for two weeks to do this. And besides, we don’t have a distribution channel, such as Target, Babies “R” Us, or Wal-Mart, set up.
“We thought we could do it all and it would sell itself. From the stainless steel pins to the waterproof sticker, every step of the way has been a huge research project. I’m ready to stop getting my hands dirty with this business and be in a royalty situation. Lack of results might just be this product, or the way this particular business works. In pharmaceuticals, people come after the products.” It seems there’s a world of
difference between diapers and drugs, he’s finding out.
“We have a PR firm, but it takes a full, coordinated approach to sell a product—website, magazine ads, and a store presence—because people want to touch it. We went for broke trying to get on The Oprah Winfrey Show and news shows. But even when you’re on for a couple of minutes, people don’t buy your product; they just become familiar with it.”
The Stackmans have invested a great deal trying to solve the world’s diaper-changing dilemma. “Our costs of $200,000 have been spread over three years, and we have decent jobs, so it’s not killing us.” But then there are all those Diaperbridges languishing in their garage!
There’s no question the Stackmans are pooped. “I’m a test-tube guy. I can develop the product, but I don’t have the marketing ability or penetration strategies to actually sell it.” Garrett wants someone to take his patent and bridge his efforts. But even though he’s looking for some company to take over his product, he’s not giving up. “I believe you’ve got to take a chance on something you believe in at some point in your life. It’s been really fun.”
Still, every time Garrett drives by the restaurant in Maryland, he stares at it and thinks, “You either did me a huge favor or you’re mocking me, kicking me in the butt.” Garrett will cross that Diaperbridge when he gets there.
Re-Pillable Card®
For the Love of Aspirin
“If aspirin, a pill that can open up your heart and thin your blood, were invented today, it would sell like crazy—even for five or ten dollars a pill, and even if it just got rid of your headache. But it’s sold for two cents!”
After reading two articles about aspirin in Men’s Health magazine, John Higgins was ready to put in his own two cents. One article touted aspirin as the greatest medication ever because it can stop a heart attack without damaging the heart. Two months later, a second article said that aspirin is so important to men’s health that all men should have six bottles strategically placed in easy-to-reach spots hidden just about everywhere.
This struck John as ridiculous, so he wondered, “Where, on a man’s body, could he carry a few aspirin to save his life?” In his pocket, they’d be covered in lint. Wrapped in foil, they’d be just one more thing to forget. Shoes, even penny loafers, were out. A hat? Nope, who wears a hat? And that’s when it hit him—the wallet. Of course! Most men either carry or are close to their wallets 24/7.
So, what fits in a wallet?—money and credit cards. With that, John fashioned a prototype out of cardboard, like a thick credit card. He put it in the front slot but, when he closed the wallet, it got gigantic. Wallets are already too big. “My Irish grandmother in heaven must have guided my hands, because the next thing I did was put it in the top credit card slot. I turned away to take a call, and looked all over for the card. Then I tilted the wallet toward me and my mouth dropped open. I saw the prototype in the fold. There’s room—and enough for two!”
He called his best friend Ken Weinum with his bright idea and Ken, who had the money to back it, said “I’m in.” A patent attorney’s search came up empty-handed, and declared this invention too important to not be out there.
John showed and explained his crude prototype to an injection-molding company. It took a dozen tries on a CAD (computer aided design) program, but finally the design for the Re-Pillable Card was born. Like a credit card with a pillbox across the top, it can hold three pills in the left compartment and two on the right.
Because Men’s Health magazine had inspired his invention, John wanted to share his product with them first. After seven months of trying, “We were in it. All of a sudden, we had thousands of hits on our website and tens of thousands of orders. We still get half a dozen a week from that article. People must be reading the old article in doctors’ offices.”
Three months later, Diabetes magazine ran an article.