Prototypes and Secrecy

My buddy, Rusty, he’s a cat, lives down the street. It seems that there’s no good place to put the litter box and the smell is really driving his family crazy. Right now the litter box is in the basement. But, because it’s out of sight, the family doesn’t clean it often enough and Rusty is tired of standing in old number one and number two. So, Rusty tried sitting on his human’s toilet seat, but there wasn’t enough surface area, he lost his balance, and slipped in. Fortunately for him, he landed on his feet.

Now Rusty has this idea of developing a toilet seat for cats that fits on top of an existing human toilet seat. Since I have experience in product creation, he asked me how he should proceed with making a prototype. To start off, I told him to keep it simple. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on the initial prototype, but rather, just explore if your concept can work so that you can take it to the next level.

After a little brainstorming, we went though our recycling bin and found a corrugated box. Using my teeth, I ripped a flap off and then Rusty punched a hole in the middle with his paw. I carried it into our guest bathroom, placed it on top of the toilet seat, gave Rusty a little privacy and, low and behold, a few minutes later I heard a flush and he emerged from the bathroom smiling. It was that simple. And now his family is really geeked about the idea of sharing a bathroom together. The next step for Rusty is to come up with a stronger and more detailed prototype, which he may have to hire a company for, if he wants to attract financing.

In the case of CoolZips® zipper pulls, my family visited a local bead and craft shop, picked out various plastic and wood beads, some beading wire, lanyard hooks, split rings, crimp beads, and put together our initial prototype.

Prototype and Finished Product

We tested it out on a jacket zipper and it worked well. We were very excited. We then started fleshing out the idea even more by adding metal charms on the end. We came up with a few different styles and then took them over to my cousin Nicky’s, she’s a Portuguese Waterdog. Her family loved our idea. I could already picture my dinners going from kibble to steak.

Then it happened. Their young son proceeded to try the different zipper pulls and, suddenly, everything came apart and the beads bounced all over the table and floor – the crimp bead at the end was not strong enough. The looks on my humans’ faces showed it all. It was back to the drawing board.

After some detective work on the internet, Human Lauren found a cell phone leash to replace the beading wire. It was the perfect solution. We put together our new prototype and pulled and pulled and tested it on sweaters, jackets, backpacks, sleeping bags, anywhere we could find a zipper. The zipper pull was sturdy, strong, and it worked.

One thing to keep in mind, is that prototypes often go through many iterations. If we would have kept CoolZips a secret until we had developed it further, we would have spent a lot more time and money, thinking it was perfected, only to be disappointed when the zipper pulls would have eventually fallen apart in front of potential buyers and customers.

So don’t be so secretive about your idea and prototype. Show it to someone, such as friends and family, who you can trust and who will give you their honest opinion. Sometimes the feedback may not be what you want to hear, but it may be what you want to see.