Our Journey — Sweat, Pixels, & Bytes
An incomplete story of excitement, frustration and a tides of other emotions
“What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient… highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed — fully understood — that sticks; right in there somewhere”. — Inception (2010)
Our story is like any other Start-up full of ideas, facing exponential odds, and lacking seed capital. We are fueled by the desire to do something bigger than the sum of our individual motivations to help change the world we live in. Our agenda is ambitious and at times resolutely fearless.
The Energy Start
Conceptualized as a renewable energy company, our initial goal was to change humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels and reverse climate change: a bold statement and a grand vision. We figured out that the only way to move the needle on this issue was come up with a breakthrough product and rethink how we imagined renewable energy products. Too often, we think of them as an “efficient single source harvesting product”. It is by questioning this fundamental assumption, embedded in most renewable energy products, that led to the blueprints of our value proposition.
We interviewed aerodynamics researchers, mechanical engineers, photo-voltaic and thermal collector engineers, industrial designers, aerospace engineers, energy executives and anyone who would talk to us about the challenges of developing renewable energy products. After months of conversations, we flirted with the idea of developing a solar panel coated in a NASA engineered super black material capable of absorbing most light spectrum. Moreover, after visiting several wind farms, there was another opportunity: why not put these enhanced solar panels on those forever stationary horizontal axis wind turbines? Why not also stick in a vertical axis wind turbine? Surely, that would be disruptive technology!
As any successful entrepreneur will tell you, ideas are worth nothing without actions. Alberto Savoia in his Pretotyping Manifesto, illustrated this point very well. Thus, we began our journey to turn this idea into reality. Below is the first conceptual illustration of our ‘prototype’:
We all believed in its potential. We recruited engineers and industrial designers to refine the model further. After conducting hundreds of computer simulations and iterations, a working prototype was built. It worked according to our specification but did not have all the elements we originally intended. We felt that improvements and additional functionalities would be built into successive models.
Then, we ran into a universal problem in the renewable energy arena: “storage”. We tried to resolve this by attempting to acquire a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage system. However, in computer simulations, it did not achieve the goals we wanted and its storage duration was short term in nature. We came to the conclusion that producing useable energy from abundant renewable sources was feasible, however “storage” was the real dilemma. As one of our advisers clearly put to us, “storage is the holy grail of renewable energy”.
After evaluating our position and options, we figured that it would take years of advanced research and intense investment to come up with a solution. Therefore, like any new age Start-up, it was time to pivot!
It’s All About The Money
After several months of soul searching, we decided that we would develop an online peer-to-peer lending platform. With the right amount of marketing, risk assessment, and return on investment, we would be on the fast-track to success. Furthermore, from our market research and with all the instant money lending shops popping up on every street corner, we could tell that it was an industry waiting to be disrupted. There were several players in the market (in some jurisdictions) but nothing comprehensive.
We embarked on a new journey to build a user-friendly, robust, and secure website. We completed all the technical requirements, user acquisition, and market readiness assessment.
We acquired over 800 users willing to lend a minimum of $300 each. It was a great start for an embryonic idea.
Then, along came the Grinch in the form of “the securities commission” to inform us peer-to-peer lending would not be a legal venture. In a very technical sense, peer lenders would have to be “accredited” institutional investors. This meant, at minimum, lenders would be required to have net assets worth $5 million or a minimum yearly income of $200K. Otherwise, the protection of a “prospectus” was required for every transaction on our platform. This was a major setback for us; we were angry, exhausted and furious that they would kill our idea according to archaic interpretations of the law. The internet was changing everything except the securities commission’s world.
The choice was clear: continue and fight off insurmountable legal challenges from regulators or fold the venture. The decision was gut-wrenching because “quitting in the face adversity” was not in our DNA. After agonizing deliberations, we decided that it would be irresponsible to pursue this further because of the enormous regulatory barriers. It was a frustrating time; tensions were high and people felt defeated. Arguably, it was emotionally one of the lowest points in our journey to date.
It is a Kids’ World
We lost some good people to the failed launch of our last venture. This time, we were intent on learning from all of our previous failures. After the dust settled, we decided on four important criteria for our next market:
- We must love it!
- It must make a difference in the world.
- Barriers to entry must be very low.
- Scalable and Monetizable.
Early last winter, our team decided to meet at a local bookstore to discuss the future of our company. We chose the location because it was relatively quieter than our usual coffee shop rendezvous. However, it would prove to become one of the most important inspirations for our next venture.
We observed parents and their children going from shelf to shelf playing and engaged in interactive learning. Infants, preschoolers, toddlers and all other children, alike, were mesmerized by all kinds of animals that surrounded their environment. Many were intently playing with the plethora of animal plush toys, wheeling around toy cars, pressing on books with sounds and even staring up to catch a glimpse of the gigantic stuffed giraffe and lion at the center of the stairs.
Lots of children were also quietly playing with their parents’ iPhone on a comfortable and well designed rug. They were all having fun while some parents were perched atop a comfy chair serenely reading and keeping a watchful eye. Other parents were immersed in playful learning with their children.
Inspired by this experience, we discussed what it would take to duplicate and enhance this environment of playful learning at HOME. We had many questions: how can we make kids smile and parents happy? How can we strengthen the playful bond between parents and children? How can kids inspire their parents?
This experience gave us insight! It gave us an idea! It gave us a purpose!
We want to put a smile on every child every day!
This drove the third transformation of our company. We became a design company for children’s toys and apps.
After conducting intensive market research and extensive interviews with potential customers, we built and released our first iPhone app: Animal Parks; and iPad app: Animal Parks HD in August 2013. It was inspired by all those happy children and their parents at the bookstore.
We have a steady stream of monthly downloads and are excited about the idea that many kids across the world (United States, China, Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, Australia, and many more) have been enjoying the Animal Parks experience. Since its release, we made several minor updates to improve the functionality and responsiveness of the app. However, with enhancements in mind, we discovered an important insight in how kids and parents interact with mobile devices and Animal Parks.
This new and important discovery will be embedded into our planned design overhaul of Animal Parks and Animal Parks HD.
We are continually learning how to develop inspiring products that make children smile. We want to imagine and create joyous experiences for every child every day.
We love WHAT we are doing. We love WHO we are doing it for. We love WHY we are doing it.
To learn more about us — Visit www.purpleharbor.com or Follow Us on Twitter @purpleharbor and Like Us on Facebook
Download Animal Parks for iPhone
Download Animal Parks HD for iPad
*This post was written by Fuad Abdi
