So many inventors are frustrated by lack of funds to obtain a patent, prototyping, manufacturing and marketing. For those of you who have been in this depressing relationship with the next great invention, perhaps you will get some inspiration from Bernie Graham, the originator of the PadPivot.
PadPivot is the invention that every tablet user has dreamed about, but couldn’t really envision. It’s a tablet stand for the iPad, Kindle, Galaxy Tab, and any other tablet device. Not only does the PadPivot stand on your desk, flexibly adjusting to your desired angle, but it perches on your lap! Your thigh, to be specific. And the PadPivot folds up to pocket size, so it is eminently portable.
The PadPivot: ©PadPivot
The PadPivot, folded for transport: ©PadPivot
But initially, like most of us, Bernie Graham was floundering with his idea. He finally posted it at Quirky.com, a product development website that uses the ideas and refinements of the online world community to contribute, flush out, and develop ideas. Its goal is to create two products a week and it sells the products on the Quirky website.
Though Graham’s idea wasn’t accepted at Quirky, he did make a valuable connection to industrial designer, Jay Young, of James Arthur Young Design. Graham and Young, together, were able to devise a prototype exactly like Graham had first envisioned. Making tablet use hands-free, the tablet attaches to a rubber grip affixed to an ABS curved, foldable, plastic stand that, when open, steadies a tablet on a flat surface, as well as your leg!
iPad becomes hands-free with the PadPivot: ©PadPivot
PadPivot lets you use your lap as a desk: ©PadPivot
What next? Graham and Young needed $10,000 for an injection mold, so they decided to go to Kickstarter, the social media funding platform, and introduce the PadPivot to a world of investors. The money they have raised is beyond what they had asked for or expected. Now, with 1,710 backers, the PadPivot project has received $71,212 from donors who gave anywhere of $5 to $250, and they all get something, or several things, back for their donations. (With a $25 donation, you get one of the first PadPivots off the assembly line.)
Watch this!
There are 32 days to go before last day of collection, but the money raised so far has more than paid for the mold and several runs of the PadPivots. Honestly, the Internet buzz has been so hot, Graham and Young probably won’t have to spend a lot for advertising.
sources: HeraldNet, PadPivot, Kickstarter (To invest in PadPivots, click on Kickstarter!)
