The idea: I see the postman…
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.
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.
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.
I file for my first patent. I’m now Pat Pending, like the famous professor on The Wacky Races.
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.
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.
We have created so much new technology over the past year that we file for more patents
Our application for trademarks has been accepted! wolffepack and expetosystem are now registered trademarks.
I start doodling in those long boring meetings at the BBC
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
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.
I work hard on prototype development in my workshop: the lounge and meet industrial designers. They say they’ve seen nothing like it
The team starts to come together with the Goodwin Hartshorn in Dalston…..
Our first meetings with manufacturers. We find a great partner who shares our excitement and is up for the challenge
The factory produces the first complete sample of the backpack to our design. We are taking baby steps on the way to scale production
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
We go to Kickstarter