Back in March, I got this wild idea to create a multi-timer that you can write on. At our house, we’re always cooking multiple things at once, and I wanted a way to label the timers so we didn’t get confused. I don’t know the first thing about manufacturing, or have the time and money to figure it out, so that’s when I turned to Quirky.
Quirky is this great company based in NY, New York that allows people like you and me to bring unique ideas to life. All you need is a great idea and $10. So I prototyped my idea out of a single sheet of card stock, took some pictures, and added a little Photoshop magic. I submitted my concept along with the photos, and within a couple of days, I had hundreds of votes and comments. The Quirky community shared ideas on how to improve the timer, questions about how it would function, and overall praise for the idea. It was a surreal experience. But it just kept getting better. Within a couple of weeks, my product moved to “Under Consideration”, and then I got the phone call that my product would be up for “Evaluation” on April 19. Eval is a live-stream of the Quirky team and community discussing 10-15 products. (If you click through to watch the video, they discuss my timer around 52:00.) Amazingly, almost everyone loved it, and the vote for “YES, let’s make this!” was nearly unanimous. It was so bizarre/cool/unreal to see a room full of people discuss my idea, and ultimately decide that it was worth something.
From there, my idea moved quickly through the design and marketing phases. The Quirky designers liked my original design, so they ran with the cube shape, but added some really great features to make the timer look sleek and fun. The Quirky community helped create a name (Tetra) and tag line (Write on Time) for the timer. And as of July 2, it’s ready for pricing!
There’s still a long road ahead, but I’m optimistic we’ll be seeing Tetra for sale in the near future! Thank you to Quirky, the Quirky Community, my friends and family for all of your support. This has been an amazing journey, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us!
Check out Quirky’s blog post
Help us price Tetra
See the Live Quirky Evaluation (52:00)