start-up years · bootstrapped hardware

Meyking small things with small teams.

This was my start-up phase, and most of it was bootstrapped: an iPad case, then camera gear. Small teams, big hopes, and a launch to find out whether anyone wanted what we’d made.

Some of it made money. Some of it flopped.

Deohako

Makerlaunch · November 2012 · iPad 3, iPad 4 and iPad mini

An iPad case I made, with a twist-and-click connector on the back and a kit of things that take it: a wall mount, a clamp, suction cups, a bendable tripod, a notebook. It launched on Makerlaunch from $60, 9to5Mac wrote it up, and it found a home with pilots — aviation shops still list the parts.

The pitch video, 2:15. That’s me.

An iPad in a Deohako case standing on a bendable tripod — Click it onto a bendable tripod…

An iPad in a Deohako case mounted on a wall, showing a clock — …or onto the wall.

Tooga FloCam

Indiegogo · August 2013 · $30,000 goal

A handheld stabilizer with a bendable counterweight arm. Stack the weights to get close, bend the arm to get it right — balanced in under a minute, for anything from a phone to a four-pound DSLR. I was one of its product designers.

Three members of the Tooga team smiling and holding green camera mounts — The team, 2013.

The FloCam stabilizer holding a DSLR, each part labeled — Every part, labeled.

Hands bending the FloCam’s flexible counterweight arm — Bend the arm instead of rebuilding the rig.

Tooga Gear

Kickstarter · Dec 2013 – Jan 2014 · $17,722 of $45,000

A modular mounting system: one snap-on shell, and a dolly, suction mounts, a tripod head and a cage that all take it. I was one of its two mechanical engineers. TechCrunch wrote it up. Sixty-eight backers pledged $17,722 of a $45,000 goal.

The Kickstarter video, 2:53.

A GoPro on a Tooga suction mount on an airplane, a runway ahead — A suction mount and a GoPro, on final approach.

Hands snapping modular camera mounts together on a table — One shell, many mounts.

what it taught me

I learned a lot about leading small teams, and about the tools and the nerve it takes to meyk something and launch it. I also learned what a steady income and a larger organization are worth, and the stability that comes with them.

When my first daughter was born, I stopped trying to be a successful entrepreneur and made sure we had enough to keep our family stable. Today we’re doing just fine. I miss the entrepreneurial hope, and the ups and downs. But I enjoy creating stability for my family.

And the small things came back anyway — on weekends now, with my daughter as the founder.

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