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Posts Tagged ‘ideator’

  • Thu, Oct 13 2011

    An Interview with Fender’s Rene Diaz

    By shirley at 6:00 pm

    It’s an exciting day, Quirks! Emails went out to everyone with a Fender commitment because it’s time to complete their orders. People with presale commitments have a full 2 weeks (until Oct 27) to complete those orders and lock down their influence.

    We caught up with Rene Diaz, the ideator of Fender, to introduce him to the world along with his product.



    Rene with his family



    1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

    I am a happily married with my wife Maria, and 3 boys, Jorge 29, Mauro 13 and Jesus 8, originally from Monterrey Mexico, currently live in Flower Mound around the Dallas, TX area. My passion for computers has been my line of work for over 35 years and my love for new gadgets and rethinking the wheel is what got me instantly hooked to Quirky and here I am.

    2. When did you join Quirky?

    Joined Quirky in March of 2010.

    3. How did you find out about us?

    Through an article in the Invention! magazine.

    4. When and how did you think up the idea for this product?

    The iPad 2 had just been announced and Quirky challenged the community to come up with ideas for it. Love the Smart Cover but it was missing a little protection on the back. So my original line of thought was that it needed some kind of silicone tips to at least protect the corners from scratches as you lay it down.

    5. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    No, it would be a bad idea to make it yourself as you need time, people’s opinions (Our fellow Quirksters) and money. Quirky offers this chance for only $10.00.

    6. What do you think of the final product?

    The final products on Quirky are the refined result of an original idea to solve a problem or cover a need. I think that Fender is no exception and with the excellent vision, skills and resources from the Q staff and the community, it turned out to be a very cool product.

    7. In your opinion, what is the most innovative product ever invented?

    I have to say that before the iPhone, I was not an Apple products fan. The legacy that Steve started with the iPhone interface and concept that has emerged into tablets nowadays has been the most revolutionary invention in my opinion since the Apple II that was responsible for my career change in my early 20’s from Mechanical Engineering to Computers.

    8. What inspires you?

    My inspiration comes from problems that bother me and things that I feel need improvement or modernization. But my top sources of inspiration and motivation are my family and my God.

    9. What are some of your quirks?

    If we go by definition for the word “quirky” that means different from the ordinary in a way that causes curiosity or suspicion. I am not sure and have not asked my friends or family, but I am particularly a quiet person and the reason for that is because I feel my mind is always busy compiling information from observing and listening.

    10. What’s your favorite cereal? Deli meat?

    Not sure why anyone would like to know, but I love oatmeal with raisins. For the deli section I have to say smoked turkey breast.

    11. Any parting words?

    To Ben: I sent an email to Ben when I won with Stepper in January 2011. It was something like this: With my many thanks for creating Quirky, one of the few (if not the only) internet places where participation is truly rewarded and dreams from ordinary people of creating something different come true. I am sure that your name will be one day be listed among big creators of innovation of the century. Keep growing it so that your and ordinary people’s dreams turn into reality.

    To the Quirky Community: I have to say that I do not have much time to spend around the forums as my day job does not permit, but I have grown to love the community for what it is. We all have one thing in common, Quirky. Thanks to all who have made it possible for Fender to be a real product. Special thanks to Sandra Lehr for naming it, and Vincent Vedie for helping redefine the product into a bumper case, to the few who participated on my contest to push pre-sales, Sandra, Imants, Vincent, Andrea, Michael Taylor and Michael Cavada and please forgive me if I miss anyone, many thanks. And last but not least, to all of those whose names are on the product for participating in one way or another to make Fender a reality.

    To the Quirky Staff: Without naming anyone in particular as I believe Quirky works in unison as one, a huge THANK YOU! I would like to compare your work in all phases of the product, to the work of those who set the stage for the big successes of all-time. We tend to not see you or your work in any of the scenes but without the proper stage, I cannot imagine scenes with white backgrounds being a success. Thanks for all your work and patience with us!

    • 16 Comments
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  • Mon, Jun 13 2011

    An Interview with Mantis’ Clinton Fleenor

    By shirley at 8:30 pm

    As Mantis starts shipping out to light up people’s lives, we caught up with ideator, Clinton Fleenor, a man as versatile as the product he helped create.

    1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

    I’m originally from Idaho, but Luey and I currently live in a loft in downtown Richmond, Virginia, with Chief the dog. I “work for free”, volunteering on the administrative side of the kid’s ministry at church, and with the neighborhood civic association. Luey and I enjoy the art galleries and restaurants around the neighborhood, the local pro soccer team, and driving over to visit our first grand kid in central Illinois.

    2. When did you join Quirky?

    February, 2010

    3. How did you find out about us?

    I read about Quirky in a Delta Airlines in flight magazine article about crowd sourcing.

    4. When and how did you think up the idea for this product?

    I thought of the idea when the “Cool Light” brief was announced.

    When trying to think of a lighting problem I wanted to solve, two ideas kinda came together.

    I’d read an article in the summer about the future of ambient light in automobiles (apparently the use is going to explode, since visual awareness of the interior really reduces night driving anxiety – and the resulting wrecks), and thought the idea would be innovative in a desk lamp – and less anxiety would be useful.

    I’d like a light that hides, doesn’t take up desk space, and can illuminate my keyboard (since “loft” means “no doors” – ha, and Luey is an early-rising farm girl).

    So, I submitted an ambient light desk lamp that attaches under a computer monitor.

    5. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    No.

    6. What do you think of the final product?

    It’s great! It’s a desk light that’s off the desk, the community added great ideas, and Jess did a great job with the design. I do miss the colored ambient light function that Quirky edited out, but I think of that as the difference between an amateur dreaming and the pros making a marketable product.

    7. In your opinion, what is the most innovative product ever invented?

    The switch from analog to digital…and the resulting products.

    8. What inspires you?

    People’s needs. I’m always trying to fix something – ha.

    9. What are some of your quirks?

    I always wear wool socks. Always.

    10. What’s your favorite cereal? Deli meat?

    My favorite cereal is either Rice Chex or Froot Loops, and my favorite deli meat is Ham.

    11. Any parting words?

    Quirky rocks!

    • 13 Comments
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  • Thu, May 12 2011

    An Interview With Pivot Power’s Jake Zien

    By shirley at 11:16 am

    Pivot Power is going to turn heads as easily as its power outlets turn. We caught up with the man behind the product, Jake Zien, as we started shipping these babies out.

    1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

    I’m Jake Zien, a proud native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a student on the cusp of graduation from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). I’m a graphic design major and a computer science minor. I feel that designing and programming are remarkably analogous activities: both, at their core, are about creating beautiful systems. To me, though, each is at its best when used in service of the other: design is most interesting when it solves a problem of usability, and programming is most useful when it is made to feel organic and knowable. I’m passionate about great user interfaces and great cheeseburgers, and I hope to become an expert in the creation of both.

    2. When did you join Quirky?

    The day I submitted Pivot Power, if I remember correctly. Feel free to fact-check me against my profile page.

    3. How did you find out about us?

    For the few years between coming up with the idea during RISD Precollege and submitting it to Quirky, I had been working with a close family friend, a corporate intellectual property lawyer, on researching and applying for patents to protect my concept. He called me one afteroon to tell me about an article he had just read on American Airlines’ (?) in-flight magazine, which wrote up a new company called Quirky. We agreed that, pending a little investigation of its IP policy, Quirky seemed to precisely fit the bill of what I needed.

    4. When and how did you think up the idea for this product?

    I thought of Pivot Power during the summer of 2006, when I was a rising senior in high school. I participated that summer in a 6-week “precollege” program at RISD, the college I would later attend, during which I was an industrial design major. Our final project (yes, even in the summer, we had finals, a fitting taste of the rigor of RISD’s curriculum) was to ideate a product, and to develop it via sketches, models, and presentation. The product I worked on was the same one I would later submit to Quirky.


    Jake's school project

    5. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    I was taking some steps. Because it began as a school project, I had plenty of material to support the idea and tell its story, and as I mentioned above, my discussions and research into protecting the idea, and the landscape of similar concepts and patents, were certainly steps towards a goal. That said, the government fee for a patent to truly protect this idea was at least $10,000, and beyond that, I considered the process of attempting to produce the product alone extremely daunting.

    6. What do you think of the final product?

    From what I can tell, it really is the best power strip available, and I say this with a true and complete disregard for my royalties from its sale. Not only does it solve a real problem, but it does so in an elegant, even delightful way, and looks better than anything else on the market while doing it. It’s better than my initial idea. Even if it didn’t pivot, the level of fit and finish of the thing — essentially the fact that it doesn’t feel like a creaky, cheap office supply — would still make it the best power strip around. I hope it makes calamari of the Power Squid.

    7. In your opinion, what is the most innovative product ever invented?

    Please. As if anyone, much less a design student, could ever answer that succinctly. My kneejerk is to say the iPhone, and though it shows amazing inspiration, it feels a little shortsighted: there have been countless earlier innovations without whose shoulders the iPhone couldn’t stand. That in mind, I think I consider Sketchpad, the 1963 project of Ivan Sutherland, to be the among humankind’s most innovative inventions. It paved the way to graphic user interfaces and object oriented programming, and showed that computers could be used for creative purposes as well as it could technical ones. Jargon aside, the takeaway is that it was the 60s, and this guy made a computer screen you could draw on with a “light pen”.

    8. What inspires you?

    Great computer interfaces; problems well-identified and well-solved; hand-lettered typography, especially if midcentury; things that do one thing and one thing well; Apple, everything about them; the potential to surprise and delight; David Fincher; consideration for human factors; and often, music, especially Radiohead, Boards of Canada, Skalpel, Flying Lotus, Dirty Projectors, Blur, Madvillain, and DJ Shadow.

    9. What are some of your quirks?

    I’m a graphic designer, but I think that most graphic design comes down to “flat stuff that doesn’t move”. Lemon juice could be my favorite condiment. When I take a shower, I usually face away from or perpendicular to the showerhead. Every night, without fail, I brush my teeth for two complete minutes before I go to bed. I spend more time reading about technology than anything else, but I don’t think books are an endangered species. I clean my room often but make my bed rarely. I know the truth about Shake Shack, which is that it’s the same burger-and-custard stand we have literally hundreds of in Wisconsin, but made sleek enough for New York. I can’t do a cartwheel, but I can download probably anything, and I can do it within two hours.

    10. What’s your favorite cereal? Deli meat?

    Crispix. Tie between corned beef and turkey breast.

    11. Any parting words?

    To everyone at Quirky and its manufacturer, thank you a thousand times! I hope all of you realize that you’re in the business of making dreams real as much as you are in product development.

    • 8 Comments
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  • Fri, Mar 18 2011

    An Interview With Contort’s Emad Yahia

    By shirley at 2:19 pm

    Contort is USB-eautiful! As it gets ready to ship, we catch up with the man behind the product, ideator Emad Yahia.

    1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

    I like poetry, and I watch and play soccer as much as I can. I am originally from Sudan, so soccer is big there. We used to play it in the street “bare footed” all the time. I came to America ten years ago to study and received my MS in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of New York (now the Polytechnic Institute of NYU). I remember I took this class about emerging technology and was introduced to the patenting process. The professor asked us to come up with a new idea or design for a new product and mine was about a smart fridge that scanned the tags of all the food you purchased and created a shopping list based on that. It was a lot of fun.

    2. When did you join Quirky?

    I joined Quirky last year, a couple of weeks before I introduced the idea of Contort to the community.

    3. How did you find out about us?

    I did a Google search for companies that help inventors to bring new products to life and Quirky was in the search results, so I checked it out. I was really excited to learn about you guys, and I felt that this is what I was looking for all along. Many companies promise to help you with your idea, but they deliver very little or nothing at all. I had an experience with another company but it was horrible and it actually cost me money before I realized what a scam it was. It was a relief to find an honest and straight forward startup willing to take the risk and spend this type of time and money to bring something different to consumers.

    4. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    I had not tried other companies. I first introduced it to Quirky, and the community took it from there. I did some market research and worked on my drawings and other things but had not tried to manufacture the product on my own.

    5. What do you think of the final product?

    The final product is very unique, and I am confident that it will sell well. I do not see anything like it in the market and it certainly has character and personality. I hope this evolves into a line of products. When I compare it to the original design, I see a big difference. But that’s normal and what should naturally happen with a process like this: the crowd decides what they would like to buy. It’s like going to a restaurant and making your own food.

    6. In your opinion, what is the most innovative product ever invented?

    I think the most innovative product ever invented is the computer mouse. The design is so good it has not essentially changed for more than 40 years! That is impressive.

    7. What inspires you?

    I get inspired by simple people who do not have much, but they still smile and work hard.

    8. What are some of your quirks?

    I can not swim. I tried forever but just cannot do it. It is really embarrassing at times. Might be because sharks freak me out.

    9. What’s your favorite cereal? Deli meat?

    I love pastrami, olives, and everything that is grilled. Can you grill cereal? Coz if you can, I will eat any brand.

    10. Any parting words?

    I have an idea that I will introduce to the community soon, and I hope it holds the same appeal. I am crossing my fingers.

    • 3 Comments
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  • Tue, Feb 22 2011

    An Interview With MugStir’s Judi Sigler

    By shirley at 12:33 pm

    As MugStir gets ready to fly out of our warehouse and snuggle up to your mugs, we catch up with ideator Judi Sigler (also the brains behind Ember and our new “Super Bowl”). She totally can’t believe this is happening!

    1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

    I am a mom of one beautiful 13-year-old daughter, Lydia, as well as a school counselor. I live in a tiny little town in Nebraska and get to work with 4 to 18-year-olds every day. I’ve had more education than I care to recite and I’m also an entrepreneur. I started and ran my own printing business in the past (still going strong almost 15 years later), then decided to challenge myself with a career in education. I love kids, museums, art, and traveling.

    2. When did you join Quirky?

    Joined Quirky in January of 2010.

    3. How did you find out about us?

    Through an article in Engadget, I think it was about the PowerCurl. I was totally hooked from day one.

    4. When and how did you think up the idea for this product?

    The MugStir idea has been percolating in my head for quite some time. I think preparing coffee in the teacher’s lounge and using communal spoons was a part of my motivation to come up with the idea. I don’t have an exact date of the idea concept, but I do know discovering the Quirky site is what motivated me to actually put something on paper and share it.

    5. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    Quirky is the first and only place I shared the idea.

    6. What do you think of the final product?

    I am very happy with the final product. I was nervous in the beginning of creating the product because I had no idea what it would actually look like in the end. However, I think Jordan Diatlo did a fantastic job with the final industrial design.

    7. In your opinion, what is the most innovative product ever invented?

    I think the printing press is an incredibly innovative product. Mass printing and the spread of new ideas through printed media had an unprecedented effect on our world. The tedious amount of labor that went into setting type, the perfection of full-color printing, automating a sheet fed press, and many other innovations that stem from the invention of the press still fascinate me. It’s like magic to watch a blank paper become something.

    8. What inspires you?

    Travel inspires me, through trying new foods and interacting with vastly different cultures. Kids inspire me as well, they are so enthusiastic and I love the way they think.

    9. What are some of your quirks?

    Good question. Of course, I don’t think I have any, but if you asked my family and friends… I suppose they would say that I only drink milk from plastic cups, I can pack a suitcase like it was done at a factory, and I can operate an inordinate amount of heavy equipment, like Mack trucks and Caterpillar loaders.

    10. What’s your favorite cereal? Deli meat?

    Oatmeal that’s flavored and drizzled with honey and nuts is my favorite cereal. As far as deli meat, well, I’m from Nebraska and live way too close to the source not to mention that I likely eat prime rib and steak as often as some people eat deli sandwiches. In fact, I’m practically a vegetarian here because I don’t stock a separate freezer with half a cow or pig!  :)

    11. Any parting words?

    Thank you Quirky for bringing the MugStir to life! Nikki & Jordan for their extra work, and fellow Quirks Matthew Lanius, Kiwi, Jeff Jarosch, and Jerry Tirado. Thanks also to Matt Fleming for making a crazy video about my crazy idea too. I am so glad I found the site. I am so glad you have created a place to make invention accessible.

    • 7 Comments
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  • Wed, Jul 7 2010

    Pivot Power Jake Visits Quirky HQ

    By jess at 3:55 pm

    Our Pivot Power ideator, Jake Zien, stopped by Quirky HQ this afternoon to meet the team, talk to some press, and tool around with some prototypes. The RISD rising senior is pumped to promote Pivot Power, and he’s super jazzed about his product’s success on the site so far.

    And fun fact: his birthday is June 2, same as Quirky’s! Fate?

    • No Comments
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  • Mon, Jun 21 2010

    Summer Lovin’

    By shirley at 11:01 am

    Happy Summer Solstice, Quirkaphiles! It is officially the longest day of the year, which means more sunlight by which to invent.

    During last week’s Town Meeting, the community got to meet the expanded Quirky team, hear Ben describe our amazing progress on many fronts, and engage in a no-holds-barred live Q&A session. Jared Joyce didn’t even need to log on to participate since he was in town and decided to stop by for a visit.

    Naturally, the excitement led to the creation of our new favorite forum thread entitled “You Know You’re a Quirky Addict When……..” where community members confessed (or dare I say, flaunted?) symptoms of their addiction, like:

    “…you know what Persian Red is.”

    “…you talk about Quirky at least three times at a party over the weekend.”

    “You start a thread on the forum called ‘You Know You’re A Quirky Addict When…….’”

    Michael Taylor, creator of the thread, posted “…you call Quirky to see if they can just set the phone down so you listen to the Town Hall meeting and use your Blackberry to post about it in this thread!” immediately after speaking to me on the phone!

    As if there weren’t enough reasons to love Quirky, here’s one more, illustrated quite effectively by the original DigiDude himself, Matt Poprocki!

    • 4 Comments
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  • Thu, Apr 8 2010

    An Interview With Matt Fleming

    By jess at 11:56 am

    The illustrious Mr. Fleming needs no introduction. An active community member and former User of the Week, Matt is the involved ideator of Wrapster, an idea he originally described as an “Earbud Cord Management Thingy.” Wrapster is now available in the Quirky store for a low price of $6.50, and will hopefully be manufactured and shipped in the next 6-8 weeks.

    1. What do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you’re not on Quirky)

    I am a father, and a clinical psychologist in private practice. As a therapist, I spend my time ideating and collaborating with others in an attempt to increase enjoyment and reduce stress in people’s lives. So pretty much the same thing I try to do on Quirky.

    2. Where are you from?

    Simple question… but hard one to for me to answer. Born in Philly, but grew up in many places because my dad worked for the US State Department (Bangkok, Paris, Nairobi, Manila). Settled down in the Washington, DC, area as a high school senior and have been here ever since.

    3. When and how did you think up the idea for Wrapster?

    I can’t remember clearly. I think I was inspired by Quirky and Judi’s Mugstir, to try to think of an inexpensive and simple solution to a common problem (to increase the likelihood of having an idea chosen and make pre-order threshold). I also got an iPhone this year, and my first case was the Sidewinder (to manage the cord) but it wasn’t convenient enough for me.

    4. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    Only a prototype (out of polymer clay) to demo proof-of-concept for the pitch video.

    5. From who/where do you derive your creative inspiration?

    I can be very emotional, so getting easily frustrated or excited inspires me to ideate. My mind’s high stimulation preferences (looks like ADD) keeps me ideating and iterating. I also look to others and their ideas for inspiration, too (I even started a blog, www.SparkBugg.com, with the tagline “Sharing Bright Ideas,” where I searched for and wrote about cool products and services).

    6. What do you wish Quirky did that it does not already?

    Slow down a bit more, and increase sustained dialog and collaboration with the community throughout the product development phase. It seems to be happening as we speak (or email, as it were).

    7. What’s your favorite deli meat? Cereal?

    Right now I am grooving on prosciutto. I eat it with fresh baby spinach and Laughing Cow cheese on an Ok-Mok sesame cracker… yizzy-yummy. (Community Ambassador note: MMMMM… sounds dee-lish.) And I eat Kashi Crunch for breakfast when not eating apple, toasted flaxseeds, and almond butter on whole wheat toast.

    8. What are some of your quirks?

    I eat ice frequently, especially after meals (to clean my breath, increase water intake, trick my mind into thinking I am still eating food, and incidentally, numb my tongue so I slur like I am tipsy); I sit on a stool while showering; I can only sleep with loud white noise and a pillow between my knees; and I think that the answers to the mysteries of the Great Pyramid are going to blow our collective minds any day now.

    • 2 Comments
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  • Tue, Apr 6 2010

    An Interview With Mike McCoy

    By jess at 1:14 pm

    We’re back with another installment of Meet the Ideator! This week’s episode features Mike McCoy, of Quirky Cloak fame. Mike’s snazzy iPad case has been making waves in the blogosphere and Twittersphere, and we’re excited to fast-track it through the production process. It’s available for a smooth price of $42 in the Quirky store.

    1. What do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you’re not on Quirky)

    When I’m not on Quirky, I spend my time as an Engineer designing various systems on aircraft carriers. Mostly classified stuff, hence the short explanation. : -)

    2. Where are you from?

    Everywhere. No really, I was a Navy Brat growing up so I have lived from Puerto Rico to Chicago and a bunch of spots in between. I currently reside in Virginia.

    3. When and how did you think up the idea for Cloak?

    I was actually scoping the Apple stock prices and realized that Steve Jobs’ upcoming press event would probably be the venue in which he would reveal the IPad. I thought Quirky could really benefit from getting an early jump on this new market. I got lucky, it really was just great timing.

    4. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    Nope, I need to learn how to sew.

    5. From who/where do you derive your creative inspiration?

    My wife, my family, and throw in a little hip hop music (Outkast).

    6. What do you wish Quirky did that it does not already?

    Continue to increase Quirky visibility and traffic. More traffic, more members, more buyers, etc.

    7. What’s your favorite deli meat? Cereal?

    You can never go wrong with a late night bowl of Frosted Flakes.

    8. What are some of your quirks?

    I’ll watch almost anything on the Discovery Channel.

    • No Comments
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  • Thu, Apr 1 2010

    An Interview With Mike Cavada

    By jess at 4:02 pm

    Time for another Q&A, this time with Space Bar ideator Mike Cavada. This high-class product has already been a huge sales hit… and it hasn’t even been released yet! It’s available in our online store for $48.

    1. What do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you’re not on Quirky)

    I’m a high school technology education teacher of digital photography and computer illustration.

    2. Where are you from?

    I’m originally from a city just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I now live far from the big cities in the small town of Selinsgrove, in central Pennsylvania.

    3. When and how did you think up the idea for Space Bar?

    After setting up a new iMac lab in my classroom, I thought, “How can I protect the keyboards when they’re not being used”?

    4. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?

    I’ve made these things out of wood since the school got their first desktop computers. I just thought it was time they were reinvented.

    5. Where do you derive your creative inspiration?

    My Father, a Normandy Beach D-Day veteran, taught me well. After the full loss of his right arm, he still managed to learn a trade and work 25 years as an automobile paint and body shop technician. He continuously would attain ways to overcome his disability and always was a hard working DIY guy. Actually, there was nothing he couldn’t do.

    Now that’s influence!

    6. What do you wish Quirky did that it does not already?

    Have a listing on the NY stock exchange and stock sharing options for its hardest working members.

    7. What’s your favorite deli meat? Cereal?

    Hard salami. Cereal? No favorite… how about a chilled mimosa on a beautiful Caribbean beach.

    8. What are some of your quirks?

    4 major quirks…

    1. I have the worst memory for things I need to remember.

    2. Never finishing things I start.

    3. Making people laugh.

    4.

    • 4 Comments
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