In a recent article, we introduced 5 young, creative and successful entrepreneurs to you. Each one of them amazed us with their innovative inventions and entrepreneurship skills. Toepner, one of the business idea featured in the post is a project taken up by a handful of students of University of Minnesota, that resulted in a wonderful invention.
Curious to learn more about their journey and experience from conceiving the idea to successfully implementing it, we contacted them for an interview.
They have been very kind to spare time for an interview with us. Know them and get inspired!
Please introduce yourself to E-junkies.
The Toepener team is a group of twelve undergrad students at the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management who are studying various disciplines of business as well as entrepreneurship. We all met in our Entrepreneurship In Action course, which is designed provide students a real-life experience enabling them develop real businesses and provide real value to real customers.
Tell us about your product 'Toepener'. How did you come up with it?
In the beginning of our Entrepreneurship in Action class last fall, we were split into small teams and asked to brainstorm different things that we were interested in, problems that we saw, or trends that we recognized in the marketplace. One problem that was recognized was peoples’ concern with touching the door handle when exiting a public restroom. One of many creative ways the people have come up with to avoid this problem is to use an extra paper towel to touch the handle, which creates excess waste. So the question was posed, “There has to be a better way” and the concept of the Toepener was born. The Toepener is a simple device that attaches to the bottom of a door, directly below the door handle. It enables a person to open a door using only their foot. It is currently available for sale on our website Toepener.com.
You launched your product in Jan 2011. In such a short span, it has become so popular. How do you feel about it?
It has definitely been exciting, but also a little overwhelming. We’ve had a lot of great support from the people around us as well as great media coverage, which pushes us to move forward and keep working hard. It’s really been amazing to see how quickly news can spread and we’ve had stories released about the team across the US and in several other countries. The Toepener is a really neat product and we hear a lot of people say “Why didn’t I think of that!”
You've worked as a team on this project. How was the experience?
It’s been a great experience so far. We have a very large team with twelve members, so we benefit from having a very diverse group of students and everyone is able to utilize their expertise and focus in specific areas. But it isn’t always easy. The team has had its fair share in challenges, especially in communicating and keeping everyone focused and on the same page. But every day we are improving and we try to hang out together outside the office as much as possible.
What were the challenges you faced in launching your product?
Since day one, it has been one obstacle after another. It has taken a lot of time, initiative, and hard work to grow from a group of students with an idea, to an established business with a solid product. But that is really the beauty of entrepreneurship and the reason we all are taking the course. We are finally able to apply the principles and concepts we learn in the classroom and really get our hands dirty.
How did you market your product? Which method you found the most useful one?
We have used a combination of methods to both market and sell the Toepener. The first was to go out into the market and bring the Toepener directly to the customers. It required a lot of time and footwork, but the feedback we received made it valuable. We have also established a very strong online presence and have a great group of followers on our Facebook page, Twitter, and Blog and we sell the Toepener online at our website Toepener.com. We are confident that the Toepener is a great product and goal is to create awareness that this type of solution exists.
So, are you guys gearing up to produce another interesting project? What is it?
Working in a group of twelve entrepreneurs, there are always new ideas being thrown around and a couple sitting on the sidelines, but those are top secret. Right now we are really excited about the Toepener and are putting all our efforts into building the business and making the Toepener a successful product.
Many young aspiring entrepreneurs would draw inspiration from you! What would you like to say to them or any advice for them?
The three biggest lessons that we have learned throughout this experience, and advice we would leave for aspiring entrepreneurs are:
(1) When you come across that great idea, take the time to meet with your potential customers as early in the development stage as you can and listen carefully to their feedback. You are going to have a much easier time selling a product or service that you know the customer actually wants, rather than trying to sell them something you think they should want.
(2) Network! Network! Network! These are three words we hear every day in school and we couldn’t stress them enough. Our team has been very lucky to have an awesome group of advisors and resources available to us through the school, but it has been amazing to see how many doors have been opened by simply talking about the Toepener with different people.
(3) Finally, stay flexible and be willing to change, but stay true to your idea. We went through countless prototypes before we finally settled on the current design. We knew what the problem was that we wanted to solve, but our solution to the problem adapted as we tried different things and got a better grasp on the needs of our customers. And as a final note, make sure you’re having fun! Being an entrepreneur is harder than it looks, but the reward makes it all worthwhile!
Guys, Thanks for a great interview. We wish you all the best for your future projects!
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This is not a new idea there is a product called stepnpull which has been around for 3 years and you can purchase them at Lowes.
That one is lame in comparison to the Toepener! It doesn't work nearly as well and there aren't any in the Midwest or on the East or West coast...
Call it lame if you like but StepNpull works very well and you're wrong about where they can be found... You'll find them coast to coast and everywhere in between. Just check out their customer list posted on the www.stepnpull.com website.
Call it lame if you like but StepNpull works very well and you're wrong about where they can be found... You'll find them coast to coast and everywhere in between. Just check out their customer list posted on the www.stepnpull.com website.