the Paint puck
September 2016
DUBLIN
CALIFORNIA
The project dragged on due to a frustrating habit I quickly fell into.
A MENTOR HIRED ME TO PAINT A PAINTING FOR HIS NEW HOME.
While painting, artists tend to keep a cup of water within reach. Dirty paint brushes frequently get dipped in the water in order to freshen them up, before moving on to the next color of paint.
However, as the water gets dirtier, the brush actually gets cleaned less and less effectively.
My muscle memory kicks in, back to fourth grade art class.
Distinctive memories of the difficulty that went into a fully refreshing a paint brush.
SO I START MASHING the paintbrushes
into the slick, uncaring bottom of the plain old water cups;
trying so hard to get the paint out with all the dirty water in the way.
No use - but I found myself grinding the bristles down to nubs, destroying the brushes in the process. All a hasty measure to complete this painting once and for all.
I had to choose:
In order to guarantee a clean brush,
I had to make more-than-frequent trips to the sink for fresh water,
OR
I would be smashing brush tips into the bottoms of dirty water cups for 45 seconds at a time.
Either way, these time-consuming fixes were causing the commissioned painting to
take forever to complete!
I couldn't have been the only one facing this problem?
I thought back to the NOVA Project,
and all the research I had done on
a very similar issue.
All over the internet were these sink-sized rubber mats
marketed with the purpose of cleaning cosmetic makeup brushes under running water.
However, there was nothing like it for paint brushes.
Identifying the niche market, I saw this as something simple and cheap that I could make myself.
I used the money from selling my painting to buy everything I would need to try testing this idea.
Using my new equipment
and crude new methods,
My idea worked.
Video of first test, ever.
december
2016
And so began months of iterative improvements to the process, mainly wrestling unpredictable air bubbles and surface texture finish.
The earliest prototypes were fully functional, but very ugly.
The simple pursuit of an aesthetically pleasing proof of concept.
Friday, January 13
2017
truckee
CALIFORNIA
MEANWHILE,
i lose my beloved jeep
to an icy highway incident
but the puck prototypes were finally becoming presentable.
At the same time, I was running out of supplies to continue to improve my prototypes.
And I was running out of money.
getting
psychological
"An impulse buy"
The initial theory was that this product could be
best sold in a bin adjacent to retail cash registers.
A vibrant mix of colors would draw the shopper's eyes,
to then be followed by a sense of "what is this?"
Then they may pick up a unit, experience its tactile properties, and want to buy one before even knowing its use.
However, for such a cheap product, it would take
a whole lot of volume to make business viable.
february
2017
With the best-looking prototypes, I started scouting art supply retailers all over the bay area.
I needed to see how my product could potentially fit into a retail environment.
PATENT
PENDING
Most importantly, I found a patent attorney who agreed to get the concept federally protected, for 10% his regular price, in exchange for 10% equity in my "startup."
Which was all I could afford.
I spent a few more weeks, introducing
my prototype to retail employees.
"Hey, what do you think of this idea!?"
a question I grew tired of asking the hourly shop employees.
Finally, I made it to a locally owned store called FLAX art & design, where there was finally staff other than cashiers - a buyer's office.
I pitched my product to their under-enthused buyer, who ultimately shrugged me off for the kid that I was.
to go, or not
She did however recommended that I take my prototypes to the "NAMTA" tradeshow to present my product idea.
-
NAMTA - International Art Materials Association
-
The largest gathering of retail buyers for the Art Supply Industry
I had been bleeding cash trying to fund my prototyping crusade while also trying to stay on top of rent.
Purchasing a plane ticket, lodging, and registration fees for the show was feeling unrealistic - although
I wretched at the thought of missing this opportunity and waiting a whole extra year for my first ever industry exposure.
However, all too conveniently, the insurance money from the Jeep accident arrived. Rather than spending it all on a new vehicle, I gambled it on keeping this going.
march
2017
salt lake city
utah
I was in over my head, flying blind without a clue about what was going on.
Online, I had to register for membership with the NAMTA organization, with a hefty membership fee.
On top of that was the badge fee for the show itself, with multiple membership levels at a corresponding price.
Naturally I signed up for the cheapest one, which was a wild misrepresentation of my true intent in being there.
I had also recently been concussed,
which effected my decision-making.
For sake of my explanation, the attendees of this trade show can be broken down into two main groups:
Suppliers - with their own designated booths where they display and demonstrate their products.
Buyers - those who walk the show floor, going from booth to booth placing bulk orders for the retailers.
And then there was me.
Which got me into some trouble.
Wrongly registered as an "independent rep," I caught the attention of the organization's admins, who made a swift effort to figure me out.
They quickly saw my innocence in being there, merely after attention for a scrappy new product.
I had nothing more than a messenger bag filled with my best looking prototypes, so all I could do was walk around like a buyer, and pitch the product like a supplier.
They were nice enough to let me stay, under a few conditions
-
I was forbidden to make transactions (sales) on the show floor; I was to focus on networking.
-
I had to register for a supplier's booth for the following year.
I got to experience my first trade-show, now with a clear idea of what to expect the next time around.
The after-hours events were also very fun.
natural history museum of utah
namta 2017 - key takeaways
Branding
An initial thought was to capitalize on the concept by licensing the patent to an existing manufacturer. They could produce and sell it themselves, with a small royalty payable to me.
After getting to know the industry's professionals, it became clear that waiting on high-profile acceptance for such a big transaction was unlikely to happen.
For the product to fit into the industry as-is, I would have to start "building a brand" any way I could, by means of logos, social media, graphic design, and etc.
Barcodes
A brief exchange with one of the show-goers led me on to the somewhat obvious necessity for barcodes.
I learned the name of the organization (GS1us) that would allow me to generate barcodes for the products I was going to continue to develop.
Their service allowed me to reserve a finite amount of UPC barcodes to apply to my products as I released them. An expensive, yet necessary new cost that was the first of many logistical nightmares to come.
I met the president of a seemingly prominent paintbrush brand called Princeton brush co.
Impressed with the Paint Puck concept I presented to him, he casually extended an offer that lit a fire under my ass.
He told me about a second tradeshow taking place in San Diego, about two months away. Unlike NAMTA, a networking show, this Plein-Air show was a selling show where consumers would come to buy art supplies in between professionally led oil-painting classes.
He told me to meet him in San Diego with 500 production Paint Pucks,
and he would buy them from me.
That way he could re-sell them with his brushes.
dublin
california
Prototyping wasn't going to fly anymore, which was always kind of the point. There was no way I could produce 500 flawless Paint Pucks in my apartment by May.
I spent a couple weeks researching and calling American injection molding shops, trying to find a domestic facility to make my Paint Puck parts in bulk.
Eventually I reached one guy in the Midwest, who confirmed my growing suspicion.
Silicone/rubber parts manufacturing facilities in the states specialized in medical equipment, with meticulous sterilization and extremely expensive engineers.
Confused by who I was and what my goal was, he asked me what I was trying to make. When I explained the Paint Puck to him, in its novelty nature, he exasperatedly pointed me towards alibaba.com
Though it rattled my nerves to find a foreign vendor and spend what little money I had on an inaugural order,
I pulled the trigger anyway.
april
2017
san diego
california
I made it to San Diego with the first-ever 500 production run Paint Puck units.
When I found the Princeton team at the San Diego tradeshow, I completely surprised them; they clearly thought I wouldn't follow through.
After I bought an abundance of units, a plane ticket, and a hotel room,
they went back on the deal as I stood there in front of them.
I was beyond upset, as I was now stuck with a couple thousand of my brand-new inventions that I still had to figure out what to do with.
Now, there really was no turning back.
This was just the end of the beginning.
