Crash Octopus Board Game Invention- Nozomi Obinata – Ep96 Nozomi works at a company, Itten from Japan and they design board games. The Crash Octopus game is their 2nd game released using crowdfunding (Kickstarter). We discussed how the idea was formed. Then how the prototypes were made by laser cutting wood. Nozomi explains that the process of developing games is first by prototyping some pieces, then figuring out how to move them around in the game, and finally figuring out how to best mass-pro...
Jan 08, 2021•18 min
Making Creative Facebook and Instagram Ads - Kevin Urrutia - Ep 95 Kevin Urrutia is the co-founder of New York-based Voy Media who specializes in creating for clients Facebook and Instagram ads that are sophisticated and super creative. Kevin studied computer science and was good at creating software products, but didn’t have a lot of knowledge in marketing and therefore didn’t get a lot of traction on his products. He tells a story of creating a maid service/cleaning company and it was almost e...
Dec 19, 2020•29 min
Pro Basketball Combine Entrepreneur - Jake Kelfer – Ep 94 Jake is a 2x bestselling author, global speaker, and founder of Pro Basketball Combine, which has helped 70+ NBA draft prospects sign their first contract, and coach to entrepreneurs and freedom seekers. Jake had a love for basketball and wanted to work in the industry. He worked for one season at the Lakers and while he was there, he made many important connections in the industry. He wanted to start his own business and he came up with ...
Dec 10, 2020•25 min
Build What Matters - Rajesh Nerlikar – Ep 93 Rajesh is a product advisor and coach. Having worked with 25 companies in the past 3 years and recently released a book called “Build What Matters” to share best practices from that experience. Prior to that, he was an engineer turned MBA and worked in product management at a few startups and a larger enterprise company. We discussed how important it is to know what the customer wants (hence the title, build what matters). There are many ways to find ...
Dec 01, 2020•33 min
World’s Smallest 200W USB Charger - Vinson Leow – Ep 92 Vinson is from Sydney, Australia and runs his company ChargeASAP, which is a startup originating from Sydney and has been creating highly innovative mobile phone accessories since 2016. His latest product is the world’s smallest portable charger for mobile phones. The product is called Omega. It uses Gallium nitride technology, and we get into this during the show. They just completed a Kickstarter campaign. Their goal was $10,000 but raise...
Nov 19, 2020•22 min
Mobile Grip Gear and Inventor Coach - Donteacia Seymore - Ep 91 Donteacia Seymore was starting a career in politics but had an idea for an invention. It was a way to put your phone on your hand when working out. She created initial prototypes herself and created a Kickstarter campaign. After successfully selling for a while she sold the entire business and is now an inventor coach. If you need help with your invention, you should check out her website. Number one tip for inventors: find someone ...
Nov 14, 2020•29 min
Photography Card Deck Invention - Eric Bohring – Ep 90 Eric used to work in a corporate job, then set off to travel the world to follow his passion for photography. Eric invented a playing card deck that doubles as a cheat sheet for photography. Each card has tips and tricks for taking great pictures. He also had a successful Kickstarter campaign to launch the product. We talk through his entire process, from initial concept to prototypes, to the Kickstarter campaign and final production. Contac...
Oct 28, 2020•34 min
Machine learning, Artificial intelligence and the OAK Project - Brandon Gilles - Ep 89 Brandon is the founder and CEO of Luxonis and Chief Architect of the OpenCV AI Kit (OAK). He's driven to build things that materially impact the world - and views OAK as his biggest opportunity to do so." The OAK kit is a small chip with a camera that can be used to build your own AI machines. Say you want to remove a bad apple from a large pile? With OAK, you will be able to automate a robot to control this p...
Oct 07, 2020•37 min
Cybersecurity and Hackers - Raffi Jamgotchian – Ep88 Raffi Jamgotchian is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional who has helped thousands of small companies with their cybersecurity and he is the President of https://triadanet.com. We discussed many of the realities of cybersecurity in the modern business world. How to prevent getting hacked? What are ways to prevent critical information, like your intellectual property, safe? We also discussed what is the dark web, what is ransom...
Sep 22, 2020•30 min
The Edboard Invention –Cody Candler – Ep87 Cory is an engineer from CU Boulder Colorado. He invented the Edboard, which a magnetic circuit-building kit made for kids. He has a Kickstarter campaign in progress as of the time of this recording to fund the first units. The invention is like a big breadboard that is magnetic so young kids can learn electronics. We discuss the process of how Cody and his team created it. One of the things that helped him was the accelerator program at his school, Cat...
Sep 15, 2020•23 min
Advice from an Experienced Entrepreneur – Cory Lee– Ep86 Cory is an entrepreneur, business builder, and leadership developer who is passionate about helping entrepreneurs navigate business growth without sacrificing their faith, family, and fitness. He and his wife have built and sold multiple businesses in the healthcare and fitness industries. We cover a lot of topics about entrepreneurship in general. For example, do you need experience in an area to start a business in it? Or just a passion ...
Aug 29, 2020•25 min
The Origami Bottle Invention– Petar Zaharinov – Ep85 This week I interviewed Petar Zaharinov, an inventor & product designer. He is an architect by education but truly an inventor and innovator by heart. He has been a product designer for the last 10 years. Patar is an expert at finding hidden functionalities in design. He sketches first, then make some simple paper prototypes and finally uses software like Grasshopper to create the final designs. We talk about how this software is good for ...
Aug 09, 2020•18 min
The Voyager Beach Chair Invention– Steven Wilcox– Ep 84 Steven is the Founder and CEO of PARKIT, a brand whose mission focuses on adventure and outdoor enjoyment. PARKIT's first product, the Voyager, raised more than $400,000 dollars on Kickstarter. Steven’s goal was to create a high-end beach chair. He was tired of the cheap beach chairs with limited functionality. He sketched out his ideas on paper and found a product development company, Klugonics. Their process is very similar to mine, they ...
Jul 28, 2020•33 min
Portable USB Charger from Recycled Materials– Tom Meades– Ep83 Tom Meades, Designer and Co-Founder of Gomi, is from Brighton, UK. Tom and his team started Gomi in 2018, with a vision for a future where waste materials are non-existent. Tom's background is in Design & Craft, and combines industrial manufacturing processes with handcraft techniques. Tom and his team have created a portable USB charger where the plastic case is entirely from recycled materials. Currently, they are using compres...
Jun 06, 2020•21 min
Polish Entrepreneur and Investor in Africa – Marek Zmysłowski – Ep82 Marek is from Poland and started his career as an entrepreneur in Africa. He co-founded Jumia Travel – Africa’s Biggest Hotel Booking Portal listed on NYSE as part of Jumia Group and HotelOnline.co – a Travel Technology Company. After this he started his own travel company and got int some trouble with competitors when they made false claims to Interpol. He wrote a book all about this crazy experience. Check it out: Chasingblac...
May 12, 2020•44 min
Classicbot Toys – Philip Lee– Ep81 Philip Lee is a self-taught toy designer from Hong Kong. He was an experienced advertising creative who always wanted to make his own toy. So, in December 2016 Philip started his own company Playsometoys , and debuted his first toy Classicbot Classic. The Classicbot looks like the old Macintosh computer from the 80’s, but with arms, legs and a face. His latest project is the iBoy which looks like the original iPod but also with arms, legs and so on. These toys ...
May 04, 2020•30 min
The Audio Injector Invention – Matt Flax – Ep80 Matt is an entrepreneur running his own company, FlatMax Studios . He has recently invented an Audio Injector product and is raising money on kickstarter. We discussed the technology of soundcards. Matt’s invention isolated the desired sound from the noise of the computer by use of magnetic fields, instead of using electrical signals (electrons). Matt’s number one tip: If you have an invention, don’t let it sit on the shelf too long. Just get it ou...
Apr 24, 2020•32 min
Makeway, The Marble Wall Game – Elyasaf Shweka – Ep79 Elyasaf is an Industrial Designer and a self-taught Carpenter. He lives in Jerusalem, Israel and has his own small wood work shop. He is the creator the amazing Makeway marble wall game. His family ran a construction company and Elyasaf worked there as a project manager. However, his passion was in design and creation. He started working with wood and creating YouTube videos about how to create different products from wood. He even created a ...
Apr 12, 2020•47 min
Don’t Wait too Long to Apply for your Patent– Devin Miller – Ep78 Devin is a patent attorney and the founder of Miller IP Law that focuses on startups and small businesses. He found a gap in the startup/small business area for a need in intellectual property (IP). When you work with Devin, he generally has 2 scenario’s his customer is in: Scenario 1: have an invention before you get to investors Scenario 2: more of a lifestyle product; branding is more important than patent Some other areas we d...
Mar 19, 2020•31 min
Automatic Ocean Cleaning Device, The Seabin Project – Pete Ceglinski – Ep77 Peter Ceglinski is the CEO and Co-founder of the Seabin product and company. The Seabin is a floating trash can that skims the surface of the water. Peter’s background is he is trained as a product designer with experience in injection molding. The inspiration for his invention came from the thought: If we have trash cans on land, why not put them in water The device works but skimming plastic pollution and marine liter ...
Feb 13, 2020•20 min
CADdesignhelp.com Top 5 Projects 2019 – Scott Tarcy – ep 76 Changing things up this week, no guest. Instead, I reviewed my 2019 and picked my top 5 most interesting and unique projects I worked on. In summary they are: Candle Project 3D printed a mold to then make a silicone mold. A mold for a mold if you will Wax is poured into silicone mold Key lesson: make alignment keys too small Exercise Device Ab roller, foam roller and pushup bar all rolled into one Ability to lock rotation Used expanding...
Jan 21, 2020•12 min
Incredible invention: Control Your Stuff Just by Thinking About it– Ian Rowan– Ep75 Ian is the inventor of one of the world’s smallest EEG wearable devices, Nurio . Ian has deep interest in all thing’s technology, especially Artificial Intelligence and its implications for the future of health. Nurio is a tiny electroencephalogram (EEG), a tracker that can record brain waves. It’s no bigger than an earpiece, all you need to do is think about a command to make it work. You can use this device to ...
Dec 10, 2019•36 min
How Inventors can Succeed with Ecommerce – Rick Watson – Ep74 Rick Watson is an eCommerce entrepreneur and operator based in New York City who, after spending the last 20 years in the industry, recently founded his own business , RMW Commerce Consulting ,where he helps companies launch new initiatives with strategic business advice. In particular, he spends a lot of time focused on companies in the supply chain and marketplace-related areas of eCommerce. Rick and I discuss how inventors can succ...
Nov 14, 2019•34 min
Simulation Software – David Heiny – Ep73 David is Co-Founder and CEO of SimScale. SimScale is a web-based simulation platform bringing together CAE (computer aided engineering) functionality, content and people. Simulation is an engineering technique where a computer will approximate a situation, like the airflow through a heat exchanger or the load bearing ability of a bridge. These softwares are very powerful and can accurately predict many situations but up till now, owning the software and h...
Oct 08, 2019•35 min
Trademarks, Everything You Need to Know – Suzi Hixon – Ep72 Suzi Hixon has been a trademark attorney and trademark creation strategist for 15 years. She has managed the trademark portfolio of a Fortune 100 company, as well as numerous small businesses and startups. She focuses on strong brand name creation ~ from both the legal and marketing perspective. Suzi now runs her own company, helping individuals with their trademarks and branding. We discuss trademark protection in other countries, priv...
Sep 04, 2019•38 min
Twelve way to make a Prototype with Xometry – Greg Paulsen– Ep71 Greg Paulsen is the Director of Application Engineering at Xometry. He is an expert in helping determine the best-fit manufacturing process for customer projects and discussing design-for-manufacturing for over 12 different manufacturing technologies from precision machining to 3D printing Xometry is a manufacturing marketplace that provides instant pricing, lead times, and manufacturability feedback for custom parts in real-time t...
Aug 27, 2019•50 min
How to Patent an Invention – Alex Hobson – Ep70 Alex Hobson is founder and president of Invention To Patent Services . He is also an inventor being listed on more than 20 U.S. patents. He has more than 20 years of experience. I’ve had other patent agents on the show before, but Alex is a little different. Alex was first a mechanical engineer and actually worked at a same company that I worked at before ( WLGore.com , the Goretex company). He started writing his own patents while at Gore and lear...
Jul 15, 2019•41 min
Autodesk, AutoCAD, and Fusion 360 Engineer – Bryce Heventhal – Ep69 Bryce Heventhal is the Sr. Technical Marketing Manager for Fusion 360. He has 9+ years of CAD, FEA, and generative design experience, with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. When he is not designing, he is out rock climbing. Bryce started his career as an Applications engineer for a Solidworks reseller. He said that 80% of cases were installation issues and boring stuff. CAD has come a long way over the years and we discuss how w...
Jul 08, 2019•20 min
3D Printing Advice from a Formlabs Engineer - Andrew Edman – Ep68 Andrew Edman is an Industry Manager for product design, engineering, and manufacturing at Formlabs . He previously owned his own design company where he met the founders of Formlabs early on. Andrew looks for use cases for 3D printing. One such example is at Ashley Home Furniture. He found uses such as using a 3D printed fixture that weighs much less and is faster to change over compared to their traditional machined fixture. If y...
Jul 01, 2019•53 min
The Wheelchair Mountain Bike – Bowhead Corp (Chris Bagg and Will Gill) – Ep67 23 years ago, Chris Bagg broke his back snow boarding. Chris was very into outdoor sports and wanted to continue his activities as a parapalegic. Chris built his own custom wheelchair first. He needed this because all the stock chairs were too small for his 6 foot 8 inch size. Next, he started working on his off-road wheelchair bike. He “modeled” the bike first using paper and foam, just to work on the concept. Then he...
May 17, 2019•53 min
