Idea Napkin No. 2

I am an organized, detail oriented, and motivated individual who is always searching for a more efficient way of doing things. I am a husband, father of four, Navy veteran, part time student, and a full time employee. Reducing task time and effort expended are of the utmost importance to me. I have an engineering background thanks to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, and have been a supervisor at a gas turbine power plant for the past 15 years. I recently became the Process Safety Management and Risk Management Plan Coordinator for my company’s anhydrous ammonia refrigeration system. I plan to earn my Business Degree over the next couple of years and continue to advance my career within my organization. I recently took up the hobby of sailing and discovered fasteners on my sailboat that proved cumbersome and awkward to operate.

My original goal was to fabricate something that allowed my family and I to split the cotter pin retaining rings of these fasteners more effectively; a simple device worn on the finger with a metal or hard plastic tab to simulate the fingernail and pry the rings apart. What I have discovered is the multitude of items and situations in which people need to pry something open. The resulting product has therefore grown into a ring with several different tab orientation and design options and has become more universally marketable.

I offer my product to customers who are not satisfied with the current condition of things, and who can recognize a better, simpler, safer, and more efficient solution to a problem. Those that are set in their ways or choose not to look for improvements in their day to day life will not see any value or necessity in my product. They must have an open mind and be willing to try something new. I see this as my key customer characteristic. There are no demographic exclusions that I can think of.

My customers will immediately see the value in my product by the time it saves and the frustrations and injuries it reduces. It will be a significant bargain for a couple of dollars.

Being trained and working in the engineering field has ingrained in me an attitude of always searching for continuous improvement. There is always an opportunity to become more efficient. Coupled with that is my strong attention to detail and desire to help others. These characteristics will ensure a quality product that does what it says it will do.

I believe these five elements absolutely fit together. My product is something that I believe in and need in my own personal life. I will take the time and care to create it to my specifications and then share it with whoever is willing to give it a try. 

The feedback I received was thoughtful and inspiring. People seemed to be able to get behind my idea and could find benefit in owning my creation. Keeping the price down is going to be crucial. People will only be willing to pay a couple of bucks and that is OK with me and fits into my marketing plan just fine. Someone liked how my creation can help prevent injuries, so that will become a more focused point of discussion moving forward. Another piece of feedback was that this product will be beneficial on and off the boat, which I have received many times and is why the design has changed to adapt to the needs of many different applications. I cannot change who I am, but I am willing to listen to feedback and change my concepts and designs to help anyone I can. I am also willing to become better educated, and develop and improve competencies that will help me along the way. Thank you so much for your feedback.