Debbie Glickman

This innovative Mom created a “Monster Repellent” and other imaginative aromatherapy sprays to help calm various childhood anxieties. She first got the idea for the product when her three-year-old son was moving to his ‘big boy bed’. The transition made him anxious so he’d want to sleep in his parent’s room instead. Knowing that lavender was generally a soothing scent, she found a lavender spray and told him it would keep the monsters away. Seeing how much the spray helped him in this transition period, so she decided to turn her idea into a company. She spent some time researching different childhood fears and pairing them with soothing scents and ended up developing her company- Fairytale Wishes Inc. She first began her company in 2008 and in 2009 she made $10,000 from her products. In 2010 she made $24,000 and today her products are sold in several stores throughout the country.

Pazit Ben-Ezri

Another truly imaginative Mommy, Pazit Ben-Ezri, got the idea for her invention when her three-month-old son couldn’t sleep unless he was in his crib. It became so difficult to put him down for a nap when they were on the go that Ben-Ezri stopped going out at all. So she designed a small cushion with handles that would fit in her son’s crib but could be removed to take him on errands. Once she created her prototype and began using it, lots of other Moms gave her compliments and expressed interest in her product. After sending out test copies and getting feedback, she created her own company called LulyBoo LLC. Not only has she now sold thousands of products, but the company has also developed a whole line of travel-friendly baby products.

Erin Galloway

Erin Galloway, an active mommy-on-the-go, has been working to create a community for moms who want to find time to be more active. As a parent, she empathized with the struggle to make time to exercise when your day is full of cleaning crumbs and changing diapers. With a Master’s Degree in Child Development and Family Science as well as 20 years managing education initiatives for The Ohio State University and Johns Hopkins, she was ready to put her innovative skills to the test by launching two social media communities to help motivate fellow Mom’s – Pump the Bump and Sweaty Mom Survival. Collectively, these platforms have 62,000+ members. She has already shared several activities to help kickstart interactive exercises, but her latest innovation is her very own invention: The Kettlemate. This is a plush kid-sized kettlebell that allows your kids to exercise right along with you. The Kettlemate line will include several characters with different personalities to be used for different types of exercise and health-related activities.

We were able to sit down with Erin so she could tell us a bit more about her revolutionary product, which just launched its own Kickstarter campaign:

Inventionland (IL): What inspired you to invent The Kettlemate?

Erin Galloway (EG): My 3 main sources of inspiration were:

1) The women I met while curating stories and sharing motivation through my Pump the Bump Instagram account. What started out as a fun social account transformed into an inspirational community of women who wanted to maintain an active pregnancy. By the time I was 5 years into managing the community, moms were sharing how they were struggling to stay active and I knew I needed to offer a solution.

2) My degrees and professional background are in child development so I naturally see the ways in which fitness can be an outlet to incorporate early childhood developmental components that could motivate both mom and child. I thought that if I could help moms see how their child was learning, they would be more likely to feel good about fitting fitness into their family routines.

3) My daughter inspired me to launch Pump the Bump during my pregnancy, Sweaty Mommy Survival after she turned 2, and then the Kettlemate as a preschooler. She enjoyed spending time being active together and always cheers me on when I doubt myself. After I created the prototype for the Kettlemate, she wasn’t going to let me back out. She told me to “go be brave mommy” when I said I was scared to create a video and try to sell the Kettlemate to strangers. Her words let me know I was headed down the path I was meant to go down.

IL: What was the hardest part of the inventing process?

EG: The legal aspects intimidate me the most. What documents do I need, what should I apply for first, where is the biggest risk if I don’t put a legal structure in place, etc. I do not have a business background so I am learning as I go and that’s a risky way to learn.

IL: What was the most rewarding part of the inventing process?

EG: The process has taught me about the power of the human connection. I have been consistently amazed by people who offered me a hand when I never expected it. Strangers, friends, friends of friends, etc. who have continued to make my dream possible including:

• Business owners who gave me access to their contacts
• Friends who called in favors on my behalf
• Artists who charged lower fees than they could have
• Childhood friends who helped spread the word about my Kickstarter campaign that I never even knew were paying attention to what I was doing.

I could not be this far in my journey without asking for help and allowing people to support me in the best ways they knew how. The power of paying it forward has come through me and passes on to other women who feel inspired by my story.

IL: What’s your favorite thing about being a Mom?

EG: Rediscovering the world through her eyes. She reminds me to keep things simple, don’t assume adults know the right answers, and to ALWAYS ask more questions.

IL: What’s your favorite activity to do with your daughter and why?

EG: We love baking together. She’s had her own “knife set” since she was 2 and started helping me with weekly meal prep as a Sunday activity. The time in our kitchen, and exploring farmers markets, eventually evolved into a passion for baking. Instead of Saturday morning cartoons, we watch baking shows. Before she was 3, she already started creating her own business, researched about requirements to operate a store, brainstormed what inventory she will have, etc. It gives us something fun to talk about over dinner, research on Google… and of course do lots of taste testing.

IL: What’s your favorite thing to do in your spare time?

EG: I recently moved back to Ohio so spending time with college friends and family is a favorite thing. Watching my friends, and their kids, grow up via FaceTime and Facebook photos thousands of miles away was difficult. Now watching our kids play together while hanging on a back porch with some wine truly brings me joy.

IL: Any advice for fellow inventor parents?

EG: Involve your kids in the process. There is so much a child can learn from hearing your thought process and lessons learned that they could never learn in school. The critical thinking skills required to be an inventor is transferable to every aspect of their life. PLUS on the low days, they are always there to motivate you to keep going because innocence is bliss.

IL: What’s next for you?

EG: I intend to build an entire world of family-friendly fitness products for children 0-12 (books, games, puzzles, etc) and I want to make them available in uncommon places like grocery stores, restaurants, pediatric offices, etc. If I can help families reduce the screen time and increase the “we time,”, families with have tighter bonds and deeper connections that make parenting through all life stages much easier.

The post Mothers of Innovation appeared first on Inventionland.

But what is the maker movement? It’s the technological side of DIY, with an emphasis on creating new hardware and tinkering with the old. There is some overlap with hacker culture, but hackers are more concerned with software rather than physical tech. Everything from robotics and 3D printing to metalworking and arts-and-crafts have their place in the maker movement. As the name implies, it’s about creating something new, rather than depending on the old. It’s about creativity and invention.

Obviously, none of these activities are new. Inventors and creative types have existed since the dawn of humankind. But the maker movement is the first time such a large and dedicated base is devoted to invention and production. Previously, inventors were considered odd and quirky, operating outside of normal trends. Now, they’re everywhere, and seen as visionaries. Revolutionaries, even. It all depends on who you ask.

That said, these modern inventors still face many of the problems their predecessors did–namely, securing funds. Not everybody is able to become an eccentric billionaire with a mansion full of strange devices. This is where Kickstarter comes in. An individual or group comes up with a product, technological or otherwise, and builds a prototype. They’re unable to convince any companies to buy and produce their product. Instead, they turn to Kickstarter, where anybody interested in their idea can invest in making it a reality and gain a few perks along the way.

Kickstarter was founded by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler in 2009. It was an immediate success, with the New York Times calling it “the people’s NEA.” Reportedly, more than $4 billion in pledges have been made, across more than 250,000 projects. The very first successful Kickstarter was darkpony’s “Drawing for Dollars,” which exceeded its goal of $20 by 75%. Compare this to the most successful project, the Pebble Time smartwatch, which made over 4000% of its funding. Humble beginnings, indeed.

For the most part, it’s a win-win scenario. Inventors can promote their product and offer incentives for higher donations. Interested consumers can pay what they want, often getting an early version of the product in return. The inventors get funding, the consumers get the product. With Kickstarter’s policy of money only going to the host if the project is completely funded, there’s an extra layer of security in case of failure. And failures there have been- most notably, Central Standard Timing, which raised more than a million dollars before being canceled due to mismanagement.

Still, for every bomb, there’s one that manages to succeed. This has opened the door for hundreds, if not thousands of members of the maker movement to bring their creations to life. While this does saturate the market to a degree, it’s also allowed for some amazing advancements in just a few years. For example, coding was once a hobby for only the most dedicated computer nerds, requiring advanced knowledge of multiple programming languages. Now, kids can learn to code their own websites or games using toys or online tools. This, in turn, inspires a new generation of the maker movement.

Kickstarter and similar sites are not exclusive to the maker movement, nor are they the root source of the cause. Rather, the two coexist and work together to improve lives. Quite literally in some cases- a successful Kickstarter might help both the inventor pay their rent and result in a device that helps those with a disability. Yes, the platform has flaws, and the maker movement isn’t devoid of failure either. For every success story you hear, there’s at least a dozen more that have flopped.

The maker movement will only continue to grow over the next decade as new generations with interests in technology and creativity come of age. Some may even be so young as to not remember a time when Kickstarter was commonplace. There’s a new era of self-made millionaires out there, just waiting to be discovered. You just need to find the right link to their page.

The post Kickstarter and the Maker Movement appeared first on Inventionland.

10) Fidget Cube – $6,465,690

Before the fidget spinner took off, this handy little device was created for the same purpose. People who are fidgety at work or school can just click around with the various buttons and it helps you focus. Their original goal for funding was $15,000, but they ended up with 155,000 backers and a whopping $6,465,690 in funds. Talk about successful Clickstarter!

9) The Everyday Backpack, Tote, and Sling – $6,565,78      

This versatile pack was designed by photographers who felt other camera bags on the market lacked the ability for them to fit all of their other equipment. The bag comes with a number of zippered pockets and waterproof pouches to fit anything you need, as well as versatile handles and anti-theft straps. The campaign’s original goal was $500,000, but they ended up with 26,000 backers and $6,565,782 before they packed up and went home.

8) OUYA – $8,596,474

One of the earlier Kickstarter success stories, OUYA was a video game console designed for Android devices. The campaign launched way back in 2012 and gained 63,000 supporters. Unfortunately, however, its success was short-lived. According to Moneyish, its hardware didn’t live up to the hype. The store closed in 2015 and the software assets were sold to Razer Inc.

7) Exploding Kittens – $8,782,571

We know what you’re probably thinking- what? Exploding Kittens is a card game co-created by internet cartoonist Matthew Inman. The campaign took place in 2015 and, at that time, it was the fastest-funded Kickstarter of all time. The original game is suitable for ages seven and up; the creators later came out with a NSFW edition that is specifically for grown-ups.

6) Travel Jacket – $9,192,055

Not only is this jacket sleek and stylish, but it’s the ultimate jacket for any traveler. It was created by Baubax and includes several unique features: a phone charging pocket, earbud holders in the hood, a built-in neck pillow, a pouch big enough to hold a tablet and blanket, and more.

5) Pebble E-Paper Watch – $10,266,845

The first commercially successful smartwatch, Pebble, gained success over this original 2012 device. The watch would connect to via bluetooth to smartphones to alert you of incoming calls, texts, emails, as well as track workouts. It also used and e-ink-based screen, which allowed the device to maintain a long battery life. Pebble appears a few more times on the top lists, but unfortunately, they were sold to FitBit in 2016.

4) Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5 – $12,393,139

A board game based on the video game “Dark Souls” originally held the title for most funded board game of all time. That was until it’s sequel, Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5, came to play. The game essentially involves players creating characters, crafting weapons/gear, building civilizations and fighting monsters. Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5, which raised $1 million in the first 19 minutes it went live on Kickstarter, is expected to be available in 2020.

3) Pebble 2, Pebble Time 2 – $12,779,843

That’s right, Pebble is back again. Unfortunately, although the whopping $12,779,843 is very impressive, this isn’t the success story we’d hope for. Unfortunately, though Pebble gained such an impressive fund, they ended up selling the company before the project ever took off. They refunded their contributors and this device was never made.

2) Coolest Cooler – $13,285,226

This handy cooler is essentially a portable party. It comes with a built-in bluetooth speaker, ice-crushing blender, USB charger, space to tuck away plates…. Oh yeah, and it’s also a cooler. They hit a few roadblocks over the course of production, but they’re now available for $449.

1) Pebble Time – $20,338,986

According to Business Insider, this updated version of Pebble’s smartwatch launched in 2015 and still holds the record for most funded Kickstarter campaign of all time. Unfortunately, spoiler alert, Pebble is no longer a viable company. However, over the course of its short run, 2 million of these devices were sold worldwide.

The post The Top 10 Most Successful Kickstarter Campaigns appeared first on Inventionland.