1999

The idea: I see the postman…

2002 Summer

In between jobs I build the P1 prototype. It’s a shocker. I’m clearly not an inventor or an entrepreneur. The P1 goes into a box in the loft.

2007 Autumn

I leave AOL and think about what to do next and have another go at that backpack idea. I try to solve the problems of the P1 and build the P2. It’s another shocker. It goes back into the same box.

2012 December

I get home, raid the local DIY store and start building a new prototype. It works! I’m brave enough to show my mother-in-law. She says I should get it patented so I see a brilliant patent attorney.

2013 March

I file for my first patent. I’m now Pat Pending, like the famous professor on The Wacky Races.

2013 July

The first consumer focus groups pick over the prototype. It’s clear we’re really onto something exciting but there is a huge amount of work to do to make the user experience live up to the vision.

2014 March

The technical components get recreated in CAD and we 3D print these new objects for the first time. It is like seeing a child born.

2014 March

We have created so much new technology over the past year that we file for more patents

2014 June

Our application for trademarks has been accepted! wolffepack and expetosystem are now registered trademarks.

BEGINNING

2000

I start doodling in those long boring meetings at the BBC

2002 Winter

Life gets more complicated and on top of commuting, travelling and work, kids arrive and we have even more stuff. That backpack idea still seems so relevant and stays with me

2012 Autumn

I quit my job at HMV to start something new. I brainstorm with myself about what to do next. That backpack idea comes back and on the beach I start doodling again. I come up with a new approach.

2013 February

I work hard on prototype development in my workshop: the lounge and meet industrial designers. They say they’ve seen nothing like it

2013 May

The team starts to come together with the Goodwin Hartshorn in Dalston…..

2014 January

Our first meetings with manufacturers. We find a great partner who shares our excitement and is up for the challenge

2014 March

The factory produces the first complete sample of the backpack to our design. We are taking baby steps on the way to scale production

2014 April

Nervously we take the P8 prototype for some field testing on the ski slopes. It performs really well and attracts interest from the ski experts

2014 Autumn

We go to Kickstarter

Inventors Message

If you see a problem, why not try to fix it? I love a challenge, a tough nut to crack. If you look hard enough there’s a good chance you’ll find a solution, a better way. There is no monopoly on good ideas. Why do we think only big companies can do difficult things? I’m just an ordinary guy who had an idea and followed it through. I also happen to love organising my stuff, packing, travelling, getting equipment just right. It bothered me, really got inside my head, that carrying stuff optimally meant not being able to reach it. Over the course of 15 years the problem stewed with the vision in my mind and with my engineering background. After tasting many duff recipes it finally came good and the vision has become a reality. With a firm belief in the vision, a dogged determination to see it through, and the help of brilliant experts in their fields, anything is possible. I think there are lots of others who share my backpack frustrations and for them I’ve created the wolffepack.