ZorinPump Weblog...

One of the most frequent questions that I am asked by people is: how did you actually get your product to market?

Well you won't be surprised to find out that it hasn't all been plain sailing! The process of product commercialisation (or 'productisation' as I call it) is generally not a quick, easy or cheap activity and there are many dangers and pitfalls to avoid.

Here's how it happened...

One evening, in the early stages of my final-year as a student studying Product Design at Bournemouth University, I was sat in my room pondering the question of how to address a design brief that I had written to come up with a new and better design of bicycle pump. As a keen cyclist I knew that a great solution would be achieving track-pump performance with the mobility of a mini (or hand held) pump. After a couple of drinks and the inspiration of my bike that was in pieces on the floor, the innovation muse paid me a visit and the idea struck….build the pump into the seat post and use the saddle as a handle.

Now the clock was ticking, with only six months to turn the project around from having a basic idea to creating the first working prototype. I followed the product design and development process as taught by the University throughout the previous three years of study. This included:

• Clarification of the initial design idea
• Further concept generation
• Detailed design and development
• In the workshops: modeling, testing, refining

The first working seatpost-pump prototype was presented at the annual University Design Festival. When it generated so much interest and someone offering me £50 for it, I began to wonder if this as yet unnamed but novel idea was in fact a marketable product, something that I could sell to a few touring and recreational cyclists. Little did I know then where this innovative pump would take me!

The seatpost-pump is a combination of a seat-post and powerful floor-pump. The pump mechanism is hidden inside the seat-post and uses this as the outer wall of the pump. The pump is always at hand, protected from the elements and hidden from thieves, and can inflate a tyre in as little as a dozen strokes. An extra bonus is that you can stand up while you do this using the saddle as your handle.

Three years after the Design Festival, and the first Dahon bike fitted with my seatpost-pump as standard equipment rolled off the production line in Shenzhen, China. Dahon are the world leaders in manufacturing and distributing folding bicycles, and since they began in 1982 have sold almost 2 million worldwide. Dahon bikes are currently sold in over 30 countries.

So how did I take this final year student project and turn it into a global product? Apart from the viability of the pump itself, my success can probably be accredited to a combination of my perseverance, good decision making, surrounding myself with experienced advisors, and a little bit of luck.

One of the first steps towards becoming a creditable business was to set up a company. After some guidance from my banks’ business manager and an accountant I was aware that initially I needed to do prepare a brief business plan, prove my personal income streams and come up with a name for the business. For those of you still pondering on the name 'Zorin', it is perhaps best known for featuring in my favourite James Bond movie - 'A View to a Kill’ starring Christopher Walken as 'Max Zorin'.

People do recognise the name, if not immediately identifying it’s origin they say things like ‘I’ve heard of you before’. Although it was never the intention to copy the Zorin name (and there are several companies around the world that use Zorin in one way or another), it has turned out to be one of the stronger parts of the project.

I understood that Intellectual Property (IP) was also going to be an important factor within the business. My University course included a brief unit on IP in the final year, touching on Patents, registered designs and trade marks, but I didn’t really appreciate how relevant it would be to my future endeavours! For more information about Intellectual Property, visit the UK IPO website (click here).

I was very fortunate to have taken good advice from various people, one of which was a former colleague, Geoff Bell. He runs his own product design and commercialisation business, ‘SaxonKing’, and he has taken several products from concept to manufacture. He therefore provided invaluable experience and has been an enthusiastic supporter throughout the evolution of the Zorin business.

Initially we discussed the issue of intellectual property and created a development plan, which included the application for a UK patent.

Following a recommendation, I contacted a Patent Attorney in London for help with protecting my idea. Although I could have saved myself a lot of money by processing the Patent application on my own, I'm a big advocator of taking the best advice you can afford, especially with respect to Intellectual Property.

Having discussed my position with the Patent Attorney, I realised that to protect my seatpost-pump (now known as the ‘ZorinPump’) from potential copying, IP would need to be extended to cover various countries in the Far East as well as the United States and Europe. The Attorney also suggested patent applicant’s insurance, as this offered additional protection during the early stages of the project. Patent enforcement insurance continues this once the patent is granted. Be careful about spending money on IP until you have conducted a comprehensive, worldwide patent search to see if someone else has already filed a patent for the same idea. It is very easy to spend money on expensive prototypes and marketing without knowing the full story. Rule number one is to do your homework.

If you are submitting a British patent application, the advice the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) gives is to include as much detail about anything and everything you can possibly think of in the description, as once it has been filed nothing can be added. However in the claims, keep your wording as generic as possible, as nothing can be taken out of claims after it has been granted, and you want as much scope in the claims as possible, for as much protection as possible. If, for any reason your claims prove to be too generalised, then features can be covered in more detail to make your invention new and inventive (if feasible).

This is where a good Patent Attorney can be very helpful, as they know how to both provide maximum detail and then understate in the claims, and should be able to give guidance in that direction.

Another issue of significance is that of funding. An agonising factor for me, and a common problem facing people starting off. For the first few months I agonised with the question of how to finance the development process. IP protection and second stage product design and development were substantial yet necessary overheads and I was determined to still retain maximum ownership of the product. Although the allure of an injection of money from either Venture Capitalist or Business Angel was tempting, I struggled on independently, sometimes working in two jobs, so that I would remain the sole proprietor of his product. As a recent graduate from University, most of my friends at that time were starting jobs with the likes of Jaguar Cars and Dyson. In order to guarantee the bank business loan that I took, and to afford me the time to develop the pump project I needed a part-time job and ended up working as a part-time white-van-man delivering butchers supplies around East London!

If I had taken venture capital for developing the ZorinPump (which was offered at one point) the financial burden would have been considerably eased and the project timing reduced, yet I would have had sacrificed equity in the business. In order to generate a cash injection of £20,000 the deal was for a 49% equity share for the investor. I thought this was unreasonable so continued to 'go-it-alone'.

Fortunately for me, a proportion of funding came from being awarded a Department of Trade and Industry 'Smart' award. This was the DTI’s package of support providing grants to help individuals and Small to Middle Size Enterprises (SME’s) review their use of technology, access technology, and research and develop technologically innovative products and processes. Just what I needed.

In order to acquire the funding, I had to prove ZorinPump’s commercial potential. After a meeting with Business Link advisors, I went away with various forms to be completed, and the knowledge that I would have to provide cash flow forecasts, personal details, project partner information and other such details.

As part of the smart grant application a large bicycle / bicycle accessory manufacturer and distributor had to be approached to identify and prove demand for the product. The product presentation was a success and the product manager identified a number of opportunities for the pump to be distributed within the UK and possibly Europe.

When I heard from the DTI's Small Business Service (SBS) that my award had been granted, it enabled the project to really gain momentum. It amounted to 50% of the finance required for IP and product development and would see the pump through to being nearly ready for production. I generated the other 50% of finance through an extended business bank loan.

The first university prototype needed development in some key areas: integrated air hose, folding foot stand, air-flow, valves and ergonomics, to name but a few. These were nearly all features that were protected in due course with IP.

The pump at this stage was nowhere near production ready. Although it showed how the concept worked it would never generate commercial orders. Having a prototype that is ready for production makes it much easier to sell the concept to a potential manufacturer or even to source quotes on production tooling had we gone into production ourselves.

This had been learnt at the early meetings with potential retail and distribution partners, where it had become clear that before an order was placed, they would need to see a product with the correct feature content, materials, logos and packaging etc. This is another example of where I recognised invaluable advice and then proceeded to act upon it, shaping my decisions and plan of action on what I was being told by people whose knowledge and advice had a proven track record.

Once again providence was kind to me when Geoff Bell introduced me to Peter and Phil at DesTech (UK) Ltd. They took the design and development of the pump through to the next stage. They were also Smart Grant winners themselves (in fact it was they that introduced me to the scheme). Their day to day service is one where they conduct testing on domestic appliances and leisure products before they go on sale, including destructive testing where they get to blow things up! And they stayed true to form with the destruction of several bicycle inner tubes during the pump testing phase. Good work chaps!

Within a few months DesTech had finished the ZorinPump Mk.2 prototypes. They had all the new features built in and were being used for testing inflation rates, pressure capacity and so on.

Prior to this I had with the help of a friend designed a website for the ZorinPump. By the time the ZorinPump Mk.2 was completed people were already emailing the site to ask when and where the pumps would be available. I made a point of not launching the site until our patent application had been filed. In the UK, if you publically disclose your invention without a patent application in place then it will prevent you from gaining an enforceable patent in the future.

Now a new question arose. Could a small number of the pumps be manufactured through conventional batch production in the UK? This would allow a few to go out to market for testing and evaluation. However fabricating the plastic components was the problem. Low volume injection moulding was not financially viable and design modification was necessary to make the components suitable for CNC machining. So disappointingly despite the early demand the answer had to be no.

Once the prototypes were functionally correct and performed as required with the right technical feature content, the next aspect to examine was aesthetics and identifying production materials. This would be necessary before being able to secure orders for the product. Generating the right look for the pump was essential. The market had been identified as being very brand orientated and visual appearance would be vital if the pump was going to hold any appeal. Also, a conventional seat-post needed to be sourced and incorporated, so that manufacturing drawings could be drafted.

The seat posts were eventually found for the pre-production prototypes in Italy from a leading seat-post manufacturer. This involved a visit to them, which also helped to forge relationships with people there.

As the completion of the ZorinPump Mk.3 neared, the next stage was investigated. I was delighted with the look of the pump. It was both visually impressive, integrated with superb user-friendly features. Once the samples were ready, production quotes could be sourced, should the best route appear to be volume producing them ourselves. However, a more viable option, on careful consideration would be to start approaching established bicycle and bicycle accessory manufacturers who might be interested in taking the pump into their range. Another market that was identified was the after sales market or retrofit, this would probably mean a larger profit on all units sold. The bicycle and bicycle accessory manufacturer that had been approached for advice previously had expressed an interest in seeing the final retail version. This would be necessary before any orders were placed.

One option suggested by the business advisor at the bank, was for me to look into the ‘small-firms loan guarantee system’ SFLG. This is a joint venture between the UK DTI and approved lenders. Loans between £5,000 and £250,000 provided for companies with a trading record of less than five years. It is aimed at helping SME’s with a viable business plan, but lacking security. The DTI leave the commercial decision making process to the bankers, as they do not lend the money. They do provide 75% of the security on acceptance by them of the application. The major drawback in this instance, was that significant demand for the product would need to be shown, inevitably needing more press and media coverage before the pump was actually on sale.

Once the Mk.3 ZorinPump was finished, and after some publicity shots were taken for promotional material, the potential of volume production was investigated. Initial estimates looked as if £70,000 would be needed to set up production in the UK. This cost could have been reduced slightly in eastern Europe, but the most cost effective place was identified as the far-east, where it would be around 10% of that figure.

Despite the savings in revenue, there would have been no representative to oversee that the production process was being managed efficiently and to trouble shoot any problems. An independent quality control partner was one option, but this would have inevitably added to each unit cost.

As this important point was pondered and the ever present struggle of funding was probed Destech and I forged ahead in producing prototypes. It had become clear early on in the process of bringing the pump to market, when meeting retailers and distributors that before they would commit to placing an order, they would need to see a product with the correct feature content, materials, logos, packaging and so on. For a batch production of 15, they cost £250 each, a pretty expensive bicycle pump!

On completion of the production drawings by Destech, I could source production quotes for the plastic injection-moulded parts from various companies, both in and outside the UK. I discovered many variants would effect the production cost. If a ‘family’ tool could be used this would bring down the cost considerably as would the manufacture of the tool being outsourced to China or Taiwan, or even opting for a softer mould tool, this would only be suitable for a smaller production run.

At last it looked as if all of the hard work that had gone into the pump was about to come to fruition. When presented with the prototypes, a British bicycle and accessory distribution company, with whom I had been liasing for a year or so, stated they would be happy to commit to a defined number of units for the aftermarket or retrofit, as long as there would be secure delivery dates.

However, the project was about to take an even more significant turn. In February 2004 I received an email from Josh Hon, working at Dahon’s research and development labs in Taipei. At virtually the same time the Design Museum in London contacted me, wanting to include the ZorinPump in an exhibition showcasing design ingenuity and innovation, sponsored by Sir Terence Conran.

Dahon quickly identified the ZorinPump as having world-wide market appeal. Throughout 2004 the company undertook a process of due diligence on the pump which involved evaluating the product for volume production, judging compatibility with Dahon bicycles and most importantly researching the intellectual property situation. By the end of the year the project had received the green light and the first Dahon-ZorinPump was built under the 'Biologic' brand and ready for launch to the bicycle trade at the Taipei International Bike show. I was invited to the show by Dahon to be involved with the launch, to make presentations and meet some of the world’s largest bicycle and accessory buyers.

With a commercial contract agreed and exchanged with Dahon, which granted an exclusive, world-wide license for the manufacture and distribution of ZorinPumps, production began in late 2005 and by March 2006 the first Dahon bikes with ZorinPumps fitted as standard were arriving in countries around the world.

With six months presence in the market place to prove the ability of the product, Dahon added the ZorinPump as original equipment in the majority of their bicycle range and have agreed terms with other manufacturers to see pumps built into other bikes as well. A new aftermarket version of the pump has also become available for cyclists to retro-fit to their bikes.