This next invention may not change the world…unless you’re 5 to 10 years old and like almost every one your age, haven’t developed the right dexterity to do the one thing that would make you the king of all kings among the kids on your street….to be able to tie a knot on a balloon after filling it with water!
Summer has started and the first day of your newfound young freedom has abruptly turned to standstill boredom. Your brain is exploding with something to do, but what? While looking for that old bouncy ball, you reach into that old drawer in the laundry room and discover an almost full bag of balloons!
The genetic code kicks in high gear with visions of neighborhood military style coups using water cannons, water launchers, and water slingshots. How easy can this be to overthrow Freddie, the unsuspecting, but completely dry kid down the street? Fingers furiously attach the end of balloons to the backyard hose. An empty plastic pail awaits all its brightly colored new members; they just need to be filled with water!
The handle on the faucet is turned, ever so slowly as to not break the small rubber sack by water gushing into the Aqua-Weapons of Mass Destruction too quickly. All right, just turn the water off at just the right time and now gently pull the neck of the balloon off the hose end. We’re so close! Now to just tie a knot to contain the water in the balloon and the legs will just instantaneously start running towards Freddie!
What? How do you tie this thing? Dad does it so easy, what’s his problem (I mean “special talent”)? OK, so I broke one, big deal…there’s like a 1000 or so left. OK, well now there’s like 23 left…The expired balloon soldiers now lay quietly on the hot pavement near the back faucet…(each one has it’s own unique story how it came to die, never to be touched by a child’s hand again).
Meanwhile, Stacey’s Mom had something else going on…She saw this at the local toy store and bought it on impulse knowing it would please Stacy to no end come summertime. It’s called theTie-Not and it is the brainchild of Wayne Sikorcin, an ex-plastics toolmaker turned entrepreneur. He got frustrated after making 200 water balloons for a family picnic and decided (have you heard this one before?) there has got to be a better way. With a Tinker-toy part for inspiration, he was able to fashion a viable water balloon-tying solution made especially for kids and finalized his idea using prototype tooling from his previous employer.
It sounds like this (hopefully simple) toy may be on the verge of mass-market distribution. After showing it at Toy Fair in NY early this year, he was able to gain some small orders from some independent toy shops but is currently in negotiations with some very large national retailers. This means going from an order high of 8 total to around 100-200K pieces…He’ll need to ramp up and probably go overseas to meet this production while keeping his costs to a minimum…If he can instill confidence to potential retail partners that his small company can handle the pressures of delivering large quantity orders on time without breaking a sweat, he’s on the road to ballooning his company revenues...
Let’s hope for him (and our kids especially) that something doesn’t burst along the way.
Editor's Note: I'm "knot" sure about the product name "Tie-Not". I see what they were trying to do (play on the spelling of the word "knot"), but it's using a negative (not) that follows the intended use word (tie), implying it doesn't work. It reminds me of the often cited misnamed car, Nova where No Va means "no go" in spanish. Spend a little more time and get a catchy name that says what the product does (positive!) to avoid confusion for the consumer at the critical time of purchase decision .
See my earlier blog in December 2009 entitled
What's in a Name? Have you checked your Alignment?
Summer has started and the first day of your newfound young freedom has abruptly turned to standstill boredom. Your brain is exploding with something to do, but what? While looking for that old bouncy ball, you reach into that old drawer in the laundry room and discover an almost full bag of balloons!
The genetic code kicks in high gear with visions of neighborhood military style coups using water cannons, water launchers, and water slingshots. How easy can this be to overthrow Freddie, the unsuspecting, but completely dry kid down the street? Fingers furiously attach the end of balloons to the backyard hose. An empty plastic pail awaits all its brightly colored new members; they just need to be filled with water!
The handle on the faucet is turned, ever so slowly as to not break the small rubber sack by water gushing into the Aqua-Weapons of Mass Destruction too quickly. All right, just turn the water off at just the right time and now gently pull the neck of the balloon off the hose end. We’re so close! Now to just tie a knot to contain the water in the balloon and the legs will just instantaneously start running towards Freddie!
What? How do you tie this thing? Dad does it so easy, what’s his problem (I mean “special talent”)? OK, so I broke one, big deal…there’s like a 1000 or so left. OK, well now there’s like 23 left…The expired balloon soldiers now lay quietly on the hot pavement near the back faucet…(each one has it’s own unique story how it came to die, never to be touched by a child’s hand again).
Meanwhile, Stacey’s Mom had something else going on…She saw this at the local toy store and bought it on impulse knowing it would please Stacy to no end come summertime. It’s called theTie-Not and it is the brainchild of Wayne Sikorcin, an ex-plastics toolmaker turned entrepreneur. He got frustrated after making 200 water balloons for a family picnic and decided (have you heard this one before?) there has got to be a better way. With a Tinker-toy part for inspiration, he was able to fashion a viable water balloon-tying solution made especially for kids and finalized his idea using prototype tooling from his previous employer.
It sounds like this (hopefully simple) toy may be on the verge of mass-market distribution. After showing it at Toy Fair in NY early this year, he was able to gain some small orders from some independent toy shops but is currently in negotiations with some very large national retailers. This means going from an order high of 8 total to around 100-200K pieces…He’ll need to ramp up and probably go overseas to meet this production while keeping his costs to a minimum…If he can instill confidence to potential retail partners that his small company can handle the pressures of delivering large quantity orders on time without breaking a sweat, he’s on the road to ballooning his company revenues...
Let’s hope for him (and our kids especially) that something doesn’t burst along the way.
Editor's Note: I'm "knot" sure about the product name "Tie-Not". I see what they were trying to do (play on the spelling of the word "knot"), but it's using a negative (not) that follows the intended use word (tie), implying it doesn't work. It reminds me of the often cited misnamed car, Nova where No Va means "no go" in spanish. Spend a little more time and get a catchy name that says what the product does (positive!) to avoid confusion for the consumer at the critical time of purchase decision .
See my earlier blog in December 2009 entitled
What's in a Name? Have you checked your Alignment?
